


Severus Foreverus/Born Again in Avalon/DH2

by EliLeFey



Category: Arthurian Mythology & Related Fandoms, Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-14
Updated: 2018-03-08
Packaged: 2018-04-14 16:22:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 41,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4571367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EliLeFey/pseuds/EliLeFey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Please note that I wrote this before jkr did her current abomination, killing Harry and bringing back Severus.  She must be on drugs.  This is cheesier than bringing back Bobby Ewing in Dallas.  My story is now OFFICIALLY ALTERNATE REALITY STORY, and I disavow all connection with jkr.  My only interest was Alan Rickman as Severus.  He made the franchise, and it was really tacky to bring back Severus so soon after Alan died.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> UNDER CONSTRUCTION  
> Song list: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFrs0kIGncY Bete Noir, Bryan Ferry
> 
>  
> 
> Brothers in Arms, Dire Straits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9oakm9-vjo
> 
> Throw Down the Sword, The King Will Come, Wishbone Ash: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LByiVlc6czA&list=RDLByiVlc6czA

_I know you - inside me_  
_Like poison like wine_  
_Now there´s no sense in falling_  
_Say you´ll be mine_  
_Give me the world around you_  
_Give me the time_  
_Only a dream without you_  
_Say you´ll be mine_  
_I´ve got -you inside me_  
_In darkness entwined_  
_I would be lost without you_  
_Say you´ll be mine_  
_Reflected in water_  
_Imagined by fire_  
_I will be waiting for you_  
_Say you´ll be mine_  
_Beware bete noire_  
_Beware bete noire_

The Crone spent her time with other seers, watching probabilities shift and the patterns forming, in that final week before the Battle of Hogwarts. A platoon of Cavalry arrived, and set up a command post at the top of the hill. Ravens circled the summit, reporting all they saw to the Crone via a scrying pool, fed by the source of the creek that ran down the hillside to the lake. Jeanne-Marie and Rafaela directed medical elves and Faerie healers setting up an evac center near the gate, and converting the first floor of the house to ward space.

Eli worked with the platoon at the Farm and back up in Avalon when she wasn’t shadowing Severus. They had set up a Privacy Spell on the borders so that no Terrans could see the activity behind the fence line. It looked “normal,” just horses and goats grazing in the fields and on the hillside behind the buildings. Snipers took their positions overlooking the future battlefields. Orders were posted regarding the use of deadly force, simply stating that only Dementors were to be killed on sight, and Tom Riddle destroyed to the last cell by whatever means necessary. All those needing medical attention were to be admitted, after being disarmed and immobilized as the situation required. Noncombatants were guaranteed sanctuary, all creatures included, and evacuation to Faerie protocols were explained. The crows sent the offer of sanctuary to the beings in the Forbidden Forest, with instructions on finding safe passage to the Farm.

 

Jeanne-Marie went to those she trusted in Hogsmeade to tell them of her plans to provide protection for those who needed it ‘when the shit hits the fan,’ as Abeford put it. “Get all the old folks and kiddies out of harm’s way, you’re a good neighbor to do that for us,” he told her. “I always tell people that you Faeries were the best thing that’s happened in Hogsmeade in a thousand years.”

“Thank you, Uncle Abe. Always prepare for the worst, hope for the best.”

 

In that final week, Eli and Severus stole whatever time they could to be alone together. “You help keep me from falling apart,” he told her, when it was clear the final battle was approaching. They were in her loft, watching the surveillance reports coming in.

“I have something for you. It’s from all of us.” She took a sheathed athame, an amulet like the one she wore, and a leather belt. “Take off your clothes.” He complied. “Stand up.” She wrapped the belt around his hips, with the athame on his left side. The belt sealed itself and then she took another strip of leather and bound the amulet around his upper right arm.

“They can’t be taken off except by me. Only I can unsheathe your athame, double entendre intended. If any finds out about it, just tell them it’s the Faerie equivalent of a chastity belt, and I’m just marking my territory, let any females know this one’s taken.”

He smiled, and demurely covered himself with the blankets. “I’ll save myself for you, but would you promise that if I survive this, you’ll never leave me?”

She took his face in her hands and looked into his eyes. “I will never leave you, my prince. Not even death can part us. I love you, Severus Snape.”

“I love you, Eli le Fey. ‘Whither thou goest, I will go. Your people are my people.’”

“When this is over, I will take you with me and we will heal your wounds and soothe your soul, we will make you whole and set you free. This I promise you.”

 

On that final day, Eli and the Crone shadowed Severus on the astral plane (no one was paying attention to that dimension), then apparated, in time to secrete themselves in a corner of the Shrieking Shack and pull down a shadow. Eli trembled as she watched events unfold, the Crone holding her tightly. When Nagini tore open Severus’s throat, she let out a silent cry, heard only by the Fey in both realms.

_)almost time are you ready(_

_[yes]_

When Harry Potter received Severus’s memories, as he felt himself fade away, he heard Eli’s voice _[I haven’t forgotten my promise, my love. We will meet at the three way crossing]_

 _)NOW(_ The Crone activated the silver box in her hands and time froze for everyone but the two of them. “I can’t hold this very long, move!”

Eli flipped open a vial of unicorn’s blood and poured it into the wound in his throat, and the silvery blood entered the torn blood vessels. She held a pulsing green bandage to the wound, which sealed itself to his throat. She opened the airway and breathed into his mouth.

The Crone picked up his wand, “TAKE MY WAND AND GET OUT OF HERE See you at the threeway crossing NOW GO”

Eli took the Crone’s wand, put Severus’s limp body over her shoulder in a fireman’s carry and apparated herself and Severus to the loft, where two tables were waiting for them in front of the mirror.

The Crone lay in the pool of his blood and as the blood touched her, she shapeshifted into Severus’s lifeless body. Her soul left the body, the silver box shattered and time resumed its flow. When the spell ended, Eli and Severus were placed into stasis pods and transported directly to the main hospital in Avalon.

 

Severus felt himself float back to awareness, and opened his eyes. He was sitting on the ground, at a threeway crossroads, in front of an altar. A woman wearing black robes, with three black dogs, was holding a torch and looking down at him. “You may call me Hecate,” the woman said.

Eli and the Crone emerged out of the darkness, and bowed to the Goddess. Eli smiled at him and helped him to his feet. “No, you’re not dead, you’re at the Crossways. Shall I show you what is happening to your body?” The Goddess waved her hand over the altar, he looked, and saw his body on a gurney in the Avalon hospital, cocooned in light, pulsing in colors at the chakras.

“They are repairing the damage.” The scene changed, and Severus saw his body, lying dead in the Shrieking Shack.

“That’s not you, that’s me,” said the Crone. “I shapeshifted; there has to be a body and it’s my time to go, so I’m taking your place. Amazing magic, eh, my Prince? We’ve done it before to rescue Terrans,”

Severus blinked. “The athame. It’s Excalibur”

“You got it! You couldn’t bleed to death with the scabbard, and the healing blade helped keep you alive. Don’t get mad at Eli, she couldn’t tell you, I blocked that from you and not even your strongest spells could have pried it out of her. Sorry we couldn’t let you in on everything, but it was important that you face death, and you might have gotten overconfident had you known.”

 

Eli spoke, “I’m here because you’re wearing my ring. Which means I go with you into death, that’s part of the deal. I’m here to lead you back.” She turned to the Crone. “I am going to miss you, but we will meet soon.”

“I’ll be your guide when you return, you’re ready to start Crossing. I was so tired these last years, and saving you was my last mission, my Prince. See that you remember all the sacrifices made for you. You may keep my wand and amulet. Pass them on when you are ready. You’re free, use your new life well. And now, my friend, let’s go.”

The dogs went to the Crone, wagging their tails, and she and the Goddess walked, arm in arm, down the path, with the dogs prancing around them. Eli watched her depart.

“We need to go back to our bodies.” She took his hand and led him down a path, where a small spark appeared.

 

Severus slowly came to full consciousness. He felt pain but somehow it didn’t hurt. _[lie still, my love, I’m here]_ He felt Eli take his hand. He opened his eyes. Eli was there, and he saw the healers tending his body. He felt like he was floating. _{the mark is gone, you’re free]_ He heard a soft baritone voice.

“Welcome home. Don’t try to move anything, we have you immobilized. The wound to your neck is very serious and you’re not out of the woods yet. When you came in you were in shock so deep it was almost death. Until the flesh heals all you can move is your eyelids. Don’t try to talk, speak with your mind."

 

 _[Your fight is over. Your mission was successful. The battle continues but thanks to you Riddle will finally die. You kept your promise. Now, you must rest. Meet me on the astral plane and I will answer your questions and we can watch the end of the war_ ]

He felt the healer’s hands on his temples, and he closed his eyes and drifted onto the astral plane. He sat on the marble bench and looked over the water, and Eli appeared, in a black formal kimono, with a border of poppies at the hem. She waved her hand over him, and his clothing was changed to a mourning kimono. _[we go to pay tribute to the fallen. And I must watch as so many die, and I am forbidden to use my sword to help. All we can do is be witnesses, and never forget the sacrifice._ ] The sun rose as they flew over the battle.

 

Those who were there remember what they saw, and those who weren’t can read the accounts of those who were, and listen to the survivors they may meet.

Eli swept down to the bodies of Lupin and Tonks, their hands joined in death. _[oh, no, after so much pain and sorrow, he was finally learning to be happy ,,, he fought so hard to save those who had condemned him … why are the Malfoys still alive and they are dead? If only Riddle could die again, once for every death he caused.]_

Eli spiraled up to float above Hogwarts. She lifted her arms and a rain of poppies fell from her sleeves, one for every person and creature who died. As each poppy floated down over the blackened stone and collapsed towers, the name of the each of the dead was announced. ] ** _]They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old. Age shall not worry them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we shall remember them. When you go home, tell them of us and say for your tomorrow we gave our today]]_ **

Severus flew up to her _{they can’t see or hear us, can they?} [Some hear … some will see, but all will remember what happened. At sunset the Wild Hunt will begin, to gather their souls and send them on their way. We need to return to Avalon. I have a final task in this realm.]_

 

They returned to their bodies. Emerald was seated next to the bed. “I brought your sword and uniform, Eli, get moving, the barge is about ready to leave.”  She placed a dagger next to him.  "This is Carnwennan, Arthur's dagger."  She transfigured Excalibur to its original form, telling him,  "Both blades are Faerie metal, they are alive.  Weapons made from this metal are the most powerful tools of magic, see that you bear the responsibility of this power wisely and with compassion."

A healer passed a device over his body, which projected symbols on it, which were automatically written on the chart attached to the footboard of his bed, where a group of healers was assembled. They brought chairs and sat next to his bed.

“We thought you might want to see this."

An Ovate brought in a large mirror and set it up so he could see it without moving his head. The mirror filled with mists that thinned to show the Avalon barge, draped in black. Eli was one of six uniformed Faerie soldiers holding oars. In the front of the barge the High Priestess, the new Crone, the Mother, and the Maiden stood side by side, in black, hooded robes, with their crowns of office over the hoods. A woman in a plain black robe, hood pulled down over her face, stood alongside the Triad. In the middle of the barge was black catafalque. Behind that, in white robes, stood the Chiefs of the Bards, Ovates, and Priests of the Druids. The High Priestess raised her hands, and a spark flew out, which flew up in the air, then spiraled down over the barge, releasing trails of mist that formed into a wall. The mist evaporated and the barge was gone.

 

The image on the mirror switched to the middle of the lake, midway between Hogwarts and the Hogsmeade dock. A spark rose from the water, into the air, and spiraled back to the surf, releasing the mists as the barge appeared on the lake. A few of the survivors looked up as the barge silently glided to the dock, where Grandfather Morgan threw out a mooring line. He helped Aveline, as Eileen had renamed herself, out of the barge and the women followed, then the bards, and the soldiers. They filed up the path from the dock, where they were joined by Grandmother Morgan and JeanneMarie, bearing a stretcher.

_{Why the barge? Why not just use the gate?}_

_[Dramatic effect. Tradition. We’re making a point and starting the myth of Severus Snape]_

_{So even if I wanted to go back, I can’t, because there would be too much to explain. Not that there is anything for me there. And the paperwork to be made alive again officially would take years}_

_T_ hey walked down the road to the Shrieking Shack. Eli walked at the head of the procession, and entered the shack, stopping to greet the Faerie soldiers standing guard. The body was lying on a stable blanket, with Nils and Tabby sitting next to it. Eli knelt at the side of the body, kissed the forehead, and threw her cape over it. She gently picked up the body, and carried it out of the shack to the litter. She and the crowned women each took one of the poles and carried the body back to the barge, led by Aveline,

A small group of onlookers formed, some joining the processional as it went to the dock. The litter was placed on the catafalque, and the barge pulled away to the middle of the lake, where the Priestess called the mists. There were more onlookers at Hogwarts as the mists formed, then the mists floated away, leaving the lake surface bare, only a slight ripple to mark the passing of the barge. When the barge reappeared on the Lake, the High Priestess waved her athame over the body, and it shifted back to the form of the Crone. The barge landed, and those on the barge filed out. Four of the soldiers on the barge picked up the stretcher and carried it out, where a procession formed that moved at a slow pace to the main Temple.

 

“I told him the day we met that he should just grab hold of you and never let go, but you’re the one who didn’t let go of him.”

“You didn’t know who he was, we did. He accomplished his mission in that realm, now he’s here in Avalon because I accomplished mine.”

“I’m going to watch the services, and then go back to the Children’s Campus. Let me know when my son is able to speak to me. I know he doesn’t want visitors until he’s better. Lily and Takeshi know what happened, and they thank you for saving their father.”

“We will join you there on the astral plane,” Eli said, then hugged Aveline and strode away

 

 

Eli went to the hospital to the treatment room, removing her dress coat and sword. Severus was sleeping while the healers monitored his vital signs. Emerald got up and waved Eli to the chair, helped her change her uniform for a soft silk robe, and gave her a pillow and a glass of green liquid to drink. She curled in fetal position on the chair, gently picked up his hand, and the healer bound their hands together.

_{Up here, Eli!}_

_[you’ve been watching everything? Shall we go to the services?]_ They floated to the Temple

_[Have you found a new name yet?]_

_{Yes. Alan.}_

_[Good choice, it suits you. Now just float … open your mind … listen to the music, and think about her._ ]

He felt the music and understood the swirling thoughts that created a counterpoint to the melody line, memories of the Crone. He became aware that there were many others on the astral plane, he could see their translucent spirits floating in the air above the congregation. They floated across the temple until they came to their mothers and his children, and hovered above them. For the first time in his life, he felt no fear, no pain, he let himself join in the collective consciousness, and knew he would never be lonely again. This was worth all the suffering, all the agonies he had endured on the other side of the mists. He was home at last.

 

He returned to his body and opened his eyes. The doctor smiled down at him. “I won’t ask you how you’re feeling since you can’t feel anything. You want to know what’s going on. After you relayed your information to Lily’s son, the Crone activated a time freeze. Eli dosed you with unicorn blood, sealed the wound, you were both transported here. You couldn’t die because you had both the scabbard and The Crone’s amulet, they weren’t taking any chances with you, but your body was damaged. The organs were shutting down. Your neck sustained very serious trauma, including the trachea and esophagus. You lost almost all of your blood. The venom of that thing causes the blood to lose its ability to coagulate, so we’ve had to transfuse a lot of unicorn blood to keep you going until your body can compensate. Eli is giving you some of her chi to keep your strength up, that’s why your hands are bound.”

[took his hand and they floated out of their bodies. _[Want to see your new place?]_ Eli led him to a six story octagonal tower, made of silver grey granite _,_ set in the side of a hill. _[You have the entire top floor] T_

_{What is this building?}_

_[This is the original Keep, the oldest structure here. It’s the quarters for the war duke … we haven’t needed one for_ _over a thousand years since most of the gateways were closed]_

_{War duke? Me?}_

_[Well, you’re the heir to Excalibur, you’re the closest we’ve had to that since Arthur.]_

_{So tell me, what plans have you got for me? Are you going to tell me what’s expected of me?}_

_[There are so many things for you here. First, a tour of the Realm, we can go with a team of traveling Bards, and I’ll lead my platoon out for training and patrol.  Everyone, especially all the Terran refugees, wants to get a look at you and Excalibur. We’ve been waiting for you for a long time.]_

_{it’s a good thing you didn’t fail, then, since I’m so important, you would have lost face!}_

_[Not really; if you die, I die. That’s part of the covenant. But don’t worry, it doesn’t work in reverse. If I die first, I have to wait for you at the crossroads.]_

_{That doesn’t sound quite fair, you would do that for me . . why didn’t you tell me?}_

_[There was always the chance that you would have refused the deal, and you would have died. I couldn’t take that chance._

_{Every time you offered me help, you gave me a choice to refuse it, but you didn’t tell me anything about how you were going to prevent me from dying.}_

_[You couldn’t know, part of the ordeal is to face death, and you did. Things could have gone wrong, even the best laid plans go astray, you know. Excalibur’ scabbard protects you from only death from exsanguination, and you could have died from something else. We gave you just about everything we could think of to protect you.]_

_{What do you want from me?}_

_[I want you to love and be loved. I want you to feel joy. I want you to live your life in freedom. I want you to have all that you were denied on Terra]_

_{You already have given me all of the above, Eli. Now you have to let me give back to you}_

_[I have my realm, I have a mission, and I have you. I have all that I could want, all that I need]_

_{We both found our Fair Fortune. Albus and Lily were right about us.}_

 

Eli spent the next week tending Alan, as Severus had renamed himself, as the healers worked their magic on him. After a week he was able to sit up and the bandage on his throat removed. His first visitors were the three unicorns who had donated blood for his recovery. He noticed as he stroked their faces that his palm was developing sensitivity and that he could understand the thoughts of the unicorns.

The next day Lily, Takeshi and their mothers came by to visit. The children snuggled into his flanks as their mothers discussed their progress in school. His mother and Emerald brought him medicinal drinks and told him that his quarters were ready and he could move in as soon as he was discharged.

In a scratchy voice, he said, “Would you put in quarters for Eli as well? I want her with me.”

Emerald raised her eyebrows, and Eli glanced at her. _[Give him what he wants, Mother.]_

_\Are you sure?/_

_[Yes]._

 

Another week passed and Alan was pronounced healed. There was a faint network of pale scar tissue on his throat that was noticeable only in strong sunlight. Alan rode Yojimbo and Eli walked alongside when they moved into the Keep. They were met on the roof by Emerald and Jeanne-Marie, and shown the penthouse constructed for Eli’s use. “Nice, it’s bigger than my old place,” Eli said to Older Sister.

“I thought you’d like it, check out this dressing room … you will need more clothes for your new position in life” she told Eli.

When they went into the dressing room, Older Sister shut the door and said, “What are you doing? Mother is very worried about you lately. He is a member of the family, he’s been made a part of the Fey, but you’re going to kill yourself over him.”

“Give him time, he will loosen his hold on me when he feels secure.”

“He’ll never feel secure.”

“Give him a chance. He’s never going to be normal, but I knew what I was signing up for from the beginning. I’ll be fine. He’s been through a lot, cut him some slack. He’s worth the sacrifice.”

“If you say so.”

“I thought you’d be glad I resigned my commission. I’m not a Guardian anymore, isn’t that what you always wanted?”

“That’s not fair. I never liked the fact you were a Warrior but that’s what you are, that’s what Father was. You’re not a Terran housewife.”

“I’m far from a housewife, we do have missions to perform.”

 

 

“He’s getting a following at Hogwart’s. Harry Potter himself came to the Farm asking about you, gave me a long story of how he was wrong about both of you. I sent him on his way with a warning to stay away from the Fey. Minerva comes by every so often and we ride together. She misses you. She said she knows what it’s like to lose the one you love, she knew how you two felt about each other from the start. Uncle Abe sends his best. He asked about coming here to visit.”

“That would be great, he is family, after all.”

Older Sister walked to the far end of the dressing room and slid open the doors to a walk in closet. “I took the liberty of arranging your wardrobe. You realize you must have an extensive selection of outfits for your new role. This includes proper accessories, of course. You’re going to have to spend a lot more of your time and attention on your appearance. Remember, you volunteered, so no whinging. Younger Brother is taking it like a man, he understands the importance of image. Suck it up and soldier on, sister.”

 

They rejoined the others in Alan's quarters.  "We have to decide what to do with the estate of Severus Snape, who 'died' intestate.  As the Older Sister, the property can return to me, but I thought it might be better to establish a scholarship fund for Hogwarts students in need.  What shall we do with the library and the house?"

 "Sell the house, if you can find anyone to buy it, or better yet leave it as a haven for the homeless cats,  witches and wizards ... and why not move the books to the Farm library?"  

"As you wish.  I've hired a team of Wizard and Muggle solicitors to handle all the paperwork for the Embassy, they can handle it. I don't go off the property anymore.  By the way, Draco Malfoy keeps loitering around the Farm, he's been writing a book.  That wretched mess feels a great deal of remorse about his part in the 'death' of Severus Snape.  He actually got Potter to tell his story, and he's confessed his family's many sins, transgressions, high crimes and misdemeanors."

"Send me a copy.  I wonder what his daddy thinks of that?"  smiled Eli.  "Sounds like he's got a case of survivor's guilt, and he didn't deserve to live.  He knows it.  I suppose he figures being an abject penitent might make some atonement." 

 


	2. Rise from the Ashes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hagrid gets a dragon egg as he and the survivors begin to rebuild their lives and their school

Jeanne-Marie sent word to Hagrid to meet him at the Farm. He was the first of the Hogwarts staff to be allowed there since Riddle’s fall, and he was nervous about going there. He wasn’t sure if the Ministry had lifted its ban on being on the property, and didn’t like to be in trouble. He left his cottage at first light, with a note on the door saying he would be back later. No explanation.

He decided to walk, to watch the sun rise over the water. It was a beautiful summer dawn, the birds were singing again. Scars from the battles were present, but even so soon, nature was repairing the damage; plants were growing at the edge of a blighted spot near the gate where one of Riddle’s minions had cast a spell that burned a group of students alive in fiendfyre. Perhaps Pomona could plant a memorial garden there; that mistress of flora could work such magic. 

He approached the stone bridge near the Hillgate entrance, stopping to look at the Convergence, where the three streams met. One of the streams, he knew, was sourced from a spring on the massive hill that the Farm was built on. It flowed down past the buildings, joining the two larger streams that flowed perpendicular to its path, that formed the border of the estate. He decided to go under the bridge and absorb the water magic so abundant there. He went to the altar of Hekate and left flowers and some Synsepalum dulcificum muffins he’d made, in honor of lost friends and colleagues. The letter had said he could arrive any time convenient, day or night, the letter he had in his pocket in case he was challenged by the guards. You did not want to make them angry, he knew. He wanted to leave a good impression; they didn’t much care for Hogwartians, not after all that happened. He’d seen the barge take Severus Snape’s body away.

He’d never believed all of the bad things said of Severus, recalling how he and Eli worked with the magical creatures. Severus had a gift with them. Hagrid always felt that the creatures’ evaluations of people was more accurate. They were aware of things on deeper levels. They were impossible to fool. He knew better than to say anything politically incorrect and thus kept his opinions to himself. He approached the gate, and was surprised when the guards welcomed him.

“You must be Hagrid,” said one of the Faerie soldiers. “Jeanne-Marie told us about you! Welcome!” 

The massive bronze gate swung open silently. He walked in. 

The soldier smiled and pointed to the entrance of the hospital, set into the hillside. He walked across the paving, blue granite stones set in a fractal pattern, to the entrance, which was large enough so that even the most enormous creatures could access the facility. There was a water landing for sea creatures, near the stream. He walked inside, and was greeted by Jeanne-Marie. 

“I didn’t expect you this early,” she said, with a smile. “So glad you came quickly. As you can see, we’re swamped.” She swept her arm around the surprisingly large space. Various animals were there, medical personnel were bustling about carrying tools of their trade. “Let’s get some food and talk, I would like to ask a favor of you.” She led Hagrid out and they got on the funicular and rode it to the top and then went in the house. Hagrid was impressed. He’d never seen anything like it, older than Hogwarts and much more beautiful. 

“I hope you don’t mind eating in the kitchen,” Jeanne-Marie said, leading him past the massive fireplace in the Grand Hall. The kitchen was huge, even larger than the Hogwarts kitchen. Elves and humans were preparing food, lots of food. Of course, he thought to himself, they have a lot of mouths to feed here. Jeanne-Marie sat Hagrid at the table and fetched a platter of bread, fruit, sausage, mashed potatoes and grilled tomatoes and set it down on the table. “Help yourself. Coffee?” He nodded. She poured him a huge mug. The utensils she brought him were larger than normal, as if designed for his hands, but had normal sized for herself. “Try the honey, it’s from Avalon.” She grabbed some bread, buttered it, and poured dribbled a thick layer of honey over it. “I never get enough of this.” She devoured the bread in a dainty way, Hagrid noted. 

After she finished, she poured herself some coffee. “I’ll get right to it. I have a lot of contacts in, shall we say, the less regulated magical markets? I pay top dollar for magical creatures that are, well, illegal to possess, you know, like dragons. But I have legal authority over certain creatures, like dragons. You know how we forced the contract when Mei Ling was hurt. She sends her best, by the way. Her first hatched was named after you. Anyway, a dragon’s egg came into my custody, and I just don’t have anyone to spare to take proper care of it, and you’re the only one I trust. Could you do me a huge favor and be a foster parent? Don’t worry, I can provide you with proper certification, it’s all legal. Those fools in the Ministry never understand what they’re signing. So I can overrule their laws about magical creatures. If I say it’s OK for you to have this egg in your possession, it’s OK, anyone who says otherwise will face the wrath of the Druid lawyers.” 

Hagrid stopped chewing and stared at her. He was too stunned to say anything. 

“You don’t have to give me an answer right away, I know it’s a huge responsibility. But it would help me so much. I wish I could presume on you to come help out here, you’re so good with the creatures, almost as good as a Faerie. I’ll supply everything, all the food, whatever is needed.”

Hagrid swallowed, and had to take a large gulp of coffee before he could say anything. “I don’t have to think about it, of course I would love to take care of a dragon’s egg.” 

“Oh, thank you so much! Now. We have to talk about your salary. Triple what you were paid by Hogwarts plus expenses. I know times are very hard now, you don’t have an income or any support until the school is rebuilt and you’ll be needed to help. Look, I know everyone is short of cash, and we have more than we need, it’s no big thing. I need your help. Eat up! I’m going to get some special food for some of my patients, be back in a minute.” She went over to a corner of the kitchen and spoke with one of the elves while Hagrid ate the excellent food. He hadn’t had anything this good in a long, long time. 

She came back with a covered tray. “Shall we go to my office?” 

“Let me carry that for you,” Hagrid said. She handed him the tray. 

“Thank you. My office is on the top level of the hospital.” She walked quickly out of the house to the entrance of the top level. The doors were set into the hillside, with 

“What kind of dragon is it?” Hagrid asked. 

Jeanne-Marie grinned. “I didn’t believe it myself at first, but I did the tests. It’s a Babylonian Mušḫuššu

 

Hagrid gasped. “I thought those were extinct?”

“Apparently not,” she replied. 

Hagrid was stunned. He’d been, like so many other survivors, dazed, confused, going through the motions of life while his brain tried to process the enormity of what had happened. 

“I know you’re going to be busy helping to rebuild the school, and I know this is a lot to ask of you,” Jeanne-Marie said, patting his hand. 

“What makes you think that it will be rebuilt? Maybe this is the end of it.”

“No, Hagrid, where there’s life, there’s hope. The school will rise, like Great Grandfather’s phoenix.” She went to a cabinet, opened a drawer, and removed a wooden box, which she placed on her desk. 

“Open it.” 

Hagrid reached for the box, removed the lid. There is was. A dragon’s egg, the iridescent shell gleaming. 

“They are all supposed to be dead. Yet here is an egg, feel it, you can feel the life within, can’t you? So this dragon will rise again, the egg is the hope for the future. You’re still alive, so is Minerva. Pomona, most of the elves, so Hogwarts still lives, all that it stands for. Rebuild it better than it was.”

She reached into a drawer and removed a packet of papers. “Here is the certificates, all signed and notarized, that give you the right to have this egg and care for it. I have some books for you, and a scrying mirror you can use to contact me whenever you want to, if you have any questions.” She packed the papers, books, mirror, and egg in a bag with a shoulder strap and handed it to Hagrid.

“Now, how about I give you the Grand Tour?” She took him to the wards, showed him the wards on the different levels. 

“How do you get light in here?” Hagrid asked. 

“Light pipes. Even Muggles have something similar. They’re easy enough to make, if you’re interested.” 

They descended to the ground floor, stopping to speak to caregivers and patients, Jeanne-Marie translating. “Would you like to see the stables?” 

“Of course I would. I love equines, all sorts. When I was a baby, my father would take me riding, on the back of a Shire, but by the time I was four I was too heavy,” Hagrid sighed. “It’s my first memory, riding that horse across a field.” 

Jeanne-Marie smiled. She showed him her Faerie horse, Secretariat, and Hagrid dug in his pockets for treats. “How is Yojimbo? We used to play when Eli was attending classes.”

“He’s doing fine, so is Eli, she’s doing psychohistorical research, based on the Riddle Insurgency, you know she’s a necromancer, and she’s interviewing the fallen, getting their stories. Ask The Librarian. We hooked her up with a portal to our main library.”

They looked at all of the horses, stopping at Haniel’s oversized stall at the end. Hagrid stroked the horse fondly. “Can she fly yet?” 

“No, we’re still doing ground work. Would you like to ride her back to Hogwarts? Nils can go with you and take her back. Don’t worry, she can carry a lot more weight than you. These horses are immensely strong.”

Hagrid grinned. A horse large enough to carry him, a dragon’s egg to hatch, the deep fog of depression, so common among the survivors, lifted immediately. Jeanne-Marie rigged a saddle, without stirrups, held in place with a wide girth and breastband. She put on a bitless bridle, and led the winged horse to mounting block. She motioned for Hagrid to approach the horse’s flank, spoke a word and the horse raised her wings. 

“You sit in the saddle, and she will fold her wings over your legs to help hold you in place. Work on your balance, Nils will do all the steering. The Nisser took his place on the withers, holding the reins. Well. Thank you again for helping me, I just couldn’t wait to get this egg hatched and I just can’t spare the time. Come by any time, Hagrid. We can always use someone with your skills to help us all learn by sharing experiences.”

Hagrid settled into the saddle, as Nils directed the horse to the gate. “So you’ve ridden before?” he asked.

“Yes, when I was very young, very very young, on my uncle’s Shire stallion, his name was Rex. I got too big,” he replied. 

“You’re a natural. Can we canter? She’s got a lovely smooth canter, like a rocking horse.” Nils cued the horse, and they rode along the shore of the lake, the sun glinting of their mount’s golden coat. 

When they entered the Hogwart’s drive, they became the center of attention. Most of the students had gone to their homes, except for thirteen who chose to stay and help cleaning up the mess. This group came from all of the houses, their rivalry forgotten in the need to reform the group. Some of their parents were under indictment for being allied with Riddle, some were orphaned, as they formed their own family. Minerva took them all under her wing, The Librarian organized them into a work crew, with some of the elves. The students were encouraged to take the time to read the books they were collecting, and they gathered together at night in their sleeping space to discuss what they’d read. 

 

Nils stopped the horse at the main doors of the castle, leaving Hagrid to show everyone the egg, telling them about hospital at the Farm as they gathered in the kitchen to eat their midday meal. Hagrid’s happiness was contagious; those gathered felt their spirits lift. The sorrow would always be a part of them, but it was time to move on, to try and raise their heads to the sky.


	3. Hogwarts Rising

Hagrid and the Dragon’s Egg

Madam Pince, the librarian, came up with the idea that the students at Hogwart’s write up a book on how to hatch the dragon’s egg for credit. They would carefully document every stage of development, using the sources found in the library as well as from the library book sharing program from Avalon. 

Xeno Lovegood wanted the students to write a book he could publish on the hatching of the dragon, written by the students and staff, edited by Jeanne-Marie. He wanted to publish books as well as a paper, with a goal of publishing research by local magical investigators. He was given access to the Farm’s library, as well as the top floor laboratory for his researchers. He hired Sephira Kether, the Hufflepuff prefect, as a photojournalist, using the photographic apparatus that he bought from the Malfoy estate sale. 

Sephira took a constant record of the egg, during its incubation. The egg had to be exposed to the sun from a high nest, facing south, watching the sun cross the sky, counting the moons to know when it was time to hatch. An egg could not hatch without being exposed to the light and air and this particular egg was put into storage during the early days of Babylon, when his clan decided to befriend these naked primates with the opposable thumbs. The egg had been sealed in a gold covering, and over the eons it had changed hands. After a few different owners, the egg was placed in a tomb by an unknowing heir, and was left there until unearthed by a Czech anthropology professor not long before Jeanne-Marie obtained it. 

 

The students, led by Hagrid, set up a nursery in the old Astronomy classroom. Temperature regulation was critical, similar to all dragon eggs. Hagrid and Fang lived next to the egg, it was never alone. It was critical to expose the egg to the sun, and the moon, to trigger development. Hagrid wore a special summoning charm and portkey, in case the egg needed him, no matter where he was. Climbing all those stairs was time consuming, even if it was good exercise. 

The egg would hatch at the Summer Solstice. Dragon eggs were ruled by the sun, using the moon to keep track of the seasons. Before hatching, the egg developed sentience, bonding with Hagrid, as it would with any adult dragon caring for it. The shell became translucent, revealing the form, a traditional protodragon, with wings, the talons with the legs of a predatory bird, a long, serpentine tail, with leather wings covered with special feathers. The wings had evolved from the forelimbs of a predatory feline, and they still had toes and sharp claws at the ends of the elongated bones. They could fold the wings and use the claws to grab and hold things, with an opposable thumb. 

Slowly the major damage to the castle was repaired, by both physical and magical means. Surviving families donated supplies and workers, those elves liberated by the death of their masters moved to the grounds and led the effort. 

There were to be no more competing houses. The dorms would be single residence rooms, with the usual wards to ensure no sexual abuse or unauthorized contact would happen. 

That midsummer eve, a large crowd gathered in Hogsmeade to celebrate the Solstice. At noon, Hagrid’s egg was going to hatch, in accordance with the biology of his kind. Hagrid held the egg in his lap, watching and feeling the movements of the dragon as it began to cut an escape from the shell. As the sun reached its zenith, the dragon emerged, looked at Hagrid, and cried out to the giant man, crawling up his vest to cuddle over his heart.   
“His name shall be Tammuz,” it was proclaimed. Hagrid fed the hatchling milk and Avalon honey. 

He was a beautiful creature, with iridescent scales on his underside of this tail and legs; the feathers refracting light, like a hummingbird. His eyes were of a color that can’t be seen by human eyes, in the ultraviolet range. They reflected auras in prismatic shapes, sparkling with the dragon’s mood. He used his long tail like an additional hand, and learned to take to the air within a month, his wings growing as quickly as he could ingest food. Dragons at this stage need milk, honey, and starches, to grow the bones and flight surfaces needed. He was given a supply of Avalon honey which made it easier for him to develop psychic communication methods with other species. 

Dragons were a very mutable species; they adapted to the surroundings no matter what the life stage they were in. Because they don’t like to talk about their sex lives to other species, it isn’t common knowledge that dragons can mate with other dragons freely, the offspring taking the best characteristics of the parent’s generation and adapting the phenotype. 

Tommuz picked up personality traits from Hagrid, who was his caregiver. Dragons tend to have one, the one who was there during the hatching. Hagrid kept him inside his waistcoat, with his head poking out and observing his surroundings. He enjoyed the attention of the other people as he got older, learning how to communicate with them, teaching the adepts hia language. He and Hagrid had a telepathic link, since Hagrid had named him, and was the Caregiver, shaping the dragon’s characteristics. Tommuz learned the wishes and desires of the staff and students. They all wanted to feel safe again. 

Perhaps he could help when he grew up. Dragons are powerful protectors. From his aerie in the last surviving tower, he looked over Hogwarts, the castle, the lake, it was his home, his keep, his clan, he would keep the humans safe to the best of his ability. He and Hagrid went to the Farm to learn and teach, and Tommuz had other dragons to chat with and learn from. Jeanne-Marie was pleased with the young dragon’s progress. 

When Jeanne-Marie wanted to see Hagrid and Tommuz, she would send Haniel, with Nils, to pick them up at Hogwarts. She made a special saddle for Hagrid to use, and the dragon would ride on his shoulders. The Palomino was popular with the students, as were the Thestrals. All of the students could see them. That day, four of the students rode along with Hagrid, turning back at the bridge. 

Jeanne-Marie was in a good mood. Most of the injured creatures had been cured and sent home, only a few remained because they had no homes to go to; their owners were gone and they needed to be rehomed. Firenze escorted all of those who had evacuated the Forest with their young, now that the evil had been cleansed from the land, it was safe for all. The sun shone on the hillside and the decks coming from the hospital levels. She watched as the students turned and flew back across the lake.

She walked to the gateway and met the Hagrid, who dismounted and sent the Palomino back to the paddock, where she was groomed and given breakfast. 

“I’m starting to train her to go above ground, she catches on quickly. She should be able to carry you in the air within a few months. Her flight feathers are coming in strongly. And here’s my little Tommuz!” The Faerie held out her arms, and the dragon leaped out of Hagrid’s vest to her arms, attempting to use his wings. 

“He’s gaining weight, you must be a good cook.”   
“He loves eating bread and honey, got a terrible sweet tooth.”   
“They can eat almost anything they like, just make sure he gets enough sun and exercise, but you take him along with you everywhere, don’t you?”   
The dragon chattered at her.   
“Yes, you like the students, don’t you?” Jeanne-Marie smiled. “So you want to be the school mascot, do you? Get rid of all the houses … but then, you have a tail like a snake, the front limbs of a lion, the wings of an raven . . . and the heart of a dragon. I have no idea what the Ministry will think of it, but he wants to stay at the school, and I think it’s a great idea. Remember, you volunteered for this. You are his father, he wants to grow up with you.”

She led them up the hill to her office. Tommuz perched on her desk. She opened a drawer and pulled out a large envelope, opening it and removing several pictures of Mei Ling the dragon, with her hatchlings taken at intervals. 

“Would you like to take a visit to the mountain, you and your son?”

The dragon hopped up and down, chattering at Hagrid. 

“We’d love to go, but how would we get to that valley?”

“My grandmother will charter a boat for you, take you to the sacred lake, they have a Festival of the Dragon every year,” Jeanne-Marie explained. “She wants to meet this young one herself. Xeno, take a look at his wings, what I was telling you about how he’s an example of how feathers developed from scales, you see here, how he has feathers like iridescent hair on the arms, how the small feathers cover the membrane of the wings . . . see where the flight feathers are coming in on the ends? See how the edge of the wing is held by the one finger, how the rest of the arm and hand is that of a feline with retractable claws? He can walk on all fours, folding his wings back, he can walk on his hind legs . . . he’s got a wishbone, so his clan were with the dinosaurs, near as I can reckon. Classic ‘dragon’ face and head, with a single straight horn, with those feathers lighting up his face and chest.” She rubbed the bump on his forehead where the horn was beginning to grow. 

Hagrid touched the turquoise bracelet he wore, made from stones from the mountain where Mei Ling and her family now lived. He thought back to that year, when Riddle came back to life, when young Cedric was murdered. 

That was one of the realities of being a survivor. There were always reminders of the loss, of the trauma. Anniversaries of even joyous occasions were flavored with sorrow. Learning how to laugh and cry at the same time helped. 

Xeno sat down near the desk and handed Tommuz a cookie. “I’d like to go along with the crew, Luna would enjoy a trip to Tibet. So what do you think of the first chapters of the book?” 

“The photography is elegant, the observations are astute, and the translation of the Babylonian texts informative.” 

Xeno smiled. “I think it will sell.

 

 

By the next term, the number of students doubled. Many were survivors of the battle and were returning to finish up their degrees. Classes were informal, relied on more up to date texts, with guest lecturers dropping by. A new class of eleven year old students was admitted, the first class not to be subjected to the Sorting Hat. The older students worked closely with the younger ones, under the direct supervision of Minerva and Hagrid. 

Pomona returned to teach her craft, and to train Neville to be her replacement. She wanted to return to her parent’s cottage near Torquay with the greenhouse, and see what she could do with dahlias and orchids. They were repairing the landscaping damaged in the battle, hard work that kept everyone tired and hungry. They ate well, thanks to the elves. 

Adults whose livelihoods had been destroyed in the Conflicts, as it was referred to in the new Ministry, volunteered to help rebuild Hogwarts as well as the areas of Hogsmeade that had been in the line of fire.


	4. Chapter 4

Cambridge, one of the Hogswart house elves, had “defected” to be here, in charge of Alan’s household. He had been on to how Severus Snape was playing the Death Eaters, and had done what he could to help him. He’d actually been keeping track of Severus on that night, and had access to elven magic, something that Wizards tended to belittle and overlook.

  
He sensed the use of Faerie time magic, not comprehending it completely, just aware that something out of the ordinary had happened. He stayed with the body, and begged the High Priestess to go along with them to Avalon, and she allowed him to join them. He petitioned to stay, since he had been under attack when his alliance with Severus Snape was discovered. He had been overwhelmed with joy when he discovered the ruse of Severus’s death, and asked to be in charge of Severus’s house.  
“Who better than you?” Alan said, accepting Cambridge’s offer.

  
No one ever looked for the missing elf. Many of the house elves were killed in the battle or retired immediately thereafter.

 

The group left Eli and Alan in their new home. He went to the kitchen, where he checked the stores. “This is great, my own kitchen!” He glanced at her. “Oh, it’s yours, too . ..”

  
“Oh, no, Alan, I have my own place upstairs. My kitchen isn’t as big, though.”

  
“This is _our_ place, Eli. I want you with me. I never want to wonder where you are, ever again. I want to be able to go to sleep with you every night, and wake up with you in the morning.”

  
“I . . . I don’t want you to get bored,” Eli said, looking down.

  
“After all you’ve done for me, I don’t ever want to be without you. Ever. I know your people don’t usually live like this, but I am what I am, and I need you with me. I won’t be like my father.”

  
“I’m not worried about that, I’m worried about me, I’m just afraid you’ll get tired of me and now . .. and now, I can’t live without you.”

  
He looked her straight in the eyes. “Good. That means you can’t ever leave me.”

  
He reached out and held her face in his hands, and looked into her eyes.

  
“You saved me. You know everything about me, and you love me. How could you even think I would ever hurt you? I know what I’ve done to you, how you gave me your life, your very soul, and if I am worthy of such a sacrifice, how could I be without you? I need you, I need your love, I could not have lived without it, my brave warrior, my shield, my true love. I could no more survive without you than I could without breathing. For better or worse, we will be together. Forever.”

  
He put his arms around her. "I know I'm asking you to put up with my needs, and this is not considered normal here, I know your mother and older sister don't approve of this arrangement. I'm not hard to live with, I clean up after myself and I'm a much better cook than you are."

  
Eli smiled. "I guess I'll just have to adapt.”

  
“ Older Sister says no more all black outfits. New name, new look, new life. Speaking of which, we have to dress for dinner. Downstairs at the Round Table. It’s a housewarming party, not too formal. Mostly family and your unit.”

  
He was wearing narrow trousers and knee length jacket made of lightweight linen/silk blend, in shimmering shades of green and gold. The jacket was trimmed in gold bullion, over a thin silk laced shirt. “No buttons tonight,” he smiled. “I’ll make it easy for you.”

  
“So what should I wear?

  
“Let’s go up and look.”

They walked up the rear stairway that connected Alan’s quarters with the penthouse and into the dressing room. He selected a floor length dress, made of silvery white bias cut silk broadcloth, in the “goddess” style, empire waisted, with a wide belt made of silver cords, with silver heeled shoes. He put her emerald necklace on her and led her to the elevator. The first floor room was filling up, with musicians in a gallery above the table, led by Takeshi.

  
The doors and windows were left open, and the breeze off the lake on the warm summer night was scented with summer blossoms. Alan held Eli’s hand as they walked in. They were seated at the table across from the doorway to the entry hall, backs to the fireplace, Eli on his left, Jeanne-Marie on his right. Lily served the family; older children acted as household apprentices part time before leaving the children’s residence.

 

Alan was introduced to the Druids and Warriors working on the karmic inversion project, which was based in the lower floors of the Keep. It sounded intriguing; going back to stop Tom Riddle before he became a monster? He’d thought the psychohistorical maxim, that there are always connections between the “Muggle” and “Magical” worlds on Terra, to be valid, it was obvious to anyone who bothered to learn the history of the entire world, and the Ministry was always resistant to doing more than acknowledging the existence of Muggles.  The underlying concept of superiority to Muggles tainted their view, and caused them to underestimate the actual power of the Muggle world over Wizardry.

  
He understood the underlying concept, of creating an alternate universe by altering certain key events, using minimal force. By disarming, by whatever means necessary, particular individuals, the harm could be minimized, conflicts kept at a regional level and casualties significantly reduced.

  
The tactic of ‘monkeywrenching” amused him, and the plan of influencing the public via Hollywood and British movies was fascinating. He understood how using just a small amount of technology, even Muggle technology, in the beginning days of the war, during the invasion of Poland, could destroy the Third Reich at the beginning. Especially if they succeeded in persuading Chamberlin and de Laudier not to sign the Accord.

  
Without Bohemia and the SKODA armaments factories, they couldn’t have as many tanks. A few trained cavalry soldiers, using laser pointers and laser sights on high powered artillery, could blind pilots and tank drivers. After having their water spiked with hallucinogens, and subjected to drones lighting up their positions in the middle of the night, with flashing colored lights, causing seizures in some soldiers, they wouldn’t be so tough on the battlefield. He loved the plan, used in 1968 in Czechoslovakia, of changing all the road signs when the troops invaded.

By removing Gellert Grindelwald, they eliminated the connection of the Germanics with magic, thus reducing their ability to cloud minds and induce war madness. The meme that fed the conflicts was always the same. It’s a loser’s game, like that Muggle movie, what was it, about a computer starting a war, “War Games?”  
“The only way to win this game is not to play it.”

This would be an interesting project.

 

Neville and Augusta wanted Alice and Frank out of St. Mungos, and sent to the Farm for Jeanne-Marie and the Faerie healers to treat. After the dust settled, the hospital was overwhelmed by casualties, and the psych wards were jammed. Augusta simply told the staff she was taking her son and daughter in law home, she had hired staff to care for them, and she felt it her patriotic duty to make space available for combat veterans.  
No one tried to stop her.

  
She didn’t bother to tell them that the help she had hired were from Faerie, a healer and a medic elf, trained in treating PTSD and memory loss due to spells. Until the ban on all travel to and from Faerie was lifted for Terrans, they didn’t want to risk transferring Alice and Frank to Avalon.


	5. Samhain Visitation 1998 Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first Samhain after the Final Battle reunites Eli with many of her old acquaintances.

  
Eli was worried about how the visitors would affect Alan. She wasn’t sure if she could handle visitors this year, both he and the dead were still adjusting. She was a necromancer, she was familiar with how death is processed by those who died and by those still alive. The dead would be in the first stage of acceptance of their fate, just beginning to understand their lives in retrospect, and these deaths were so unrighteous that they would have a great deal of hostility to deal with. They would be given the chance to vent, to express their rage at fate, and those who caused their deaths by their actions or inactions.

  
One thing about the dead that most of the living didn’t know was how little they cared about those they left behind. That was the hard part about necromancy, finding someone who could be bothered. Without the body, time had no meaning, and they were more interested in deciphering their past, reviewing mistakes, and trying to learn from it all. Only those of the living whose bonds were strong enough, some form of love, duty, or fealty so strong nothing could end it, could be summoned from the other side of the veil. Most of the dead didn’t bother with return visits on Samhain, but many made it part of their enlightenment.

 

The Marauders were reunited, minus Pettigrew, with Tonks making the fourth. She was the first to greet Eli, with a passionate hug and kiss, repeated on Alan, who returned her greeting. “You’re the real hero,” she said to him. He blushed. She laughed. “Everyone thought you were dead, but no one could find you, I figured you had to be here.” She turned to Eli. “You got him out, somehow, didn’t you?”

  
“Guilty as charged,” Eli responded. “With a lot of help, of course.”

  
Remus smiled. “He belongs here with you. Can I have a kiss, too?”

  
“Not from me,” Alan said.

  
Eli laughed, and kissed Remus tenderly. “You keep your hands off my man, Remus.”

  
Sirius pulled Remus away, and bent him over in an exaggerated dip. “And you keep your sticky Faerie hands off MY man!”

  
“OUR man, you mean,” said Tonks

  
“There’s enough of me to go around,” Remus smiled.

 

James looked at Lily; she didn’t look exactly the same, her hair was darker, and her eyes shown green only for Alan. But it was the same girl who captured him. He’d been working on his Issues since she was reborn. He realized how he had been abusive and controlling; he meant her no harm of course. The inevitable conclusion, that he had caused his own and his wife’s death, and cheated his son out of a family, because of his possessiveness. If he had not been such an idiot, he would have had both Severus Snape and Eli le Fey on his side, and they would all still be alive.

  
That was about the worst thing of the afterlife, you find out the truths you hid from, you learned how your stupidity caused most of your problems. Severus never would have joined the Death Eaters, and would have stood against Voldemort from the start, and because of that, Eli would have been sent with a squad of bodyguards that Samhain. Severus had been wrong; he wasn’t the only one who knew of the prophecy, and James realized that Albus would have leaked the information another way, since he had always used Harry to draw fire, so it was necessary that Voldemort target him.

The delightful irony was that there was Harry was not the Chosen One. Prophecies are like that. Terrans almost always got it wrong. Even when the prophet did get it right, Terrans would not heed the warnings. Albus’s trick was to convince everyone that Harry was The One and Only, when in fact, Neville was the Chosen One, and all of them were the Designated Heroes, all who fought were of equal value. If anyone was the leader, it was him, because he didn’t want to be a hero, he didn’t want to be a leader, he didn’t want glory. He was the one who acted, who destroyed the last vestige of Voldemort. Harry choked, as always, and it was Riddle’s misuse of a wand he was not entitled to use that killed him.

 

Arrogance tended to take a high toll on those pretentious enough to think that they should lead the world, that the world needed a single leader, a single culture. Let a hundred flowers blossom, let a hundred schools of thoughts contend, a line stolen by one of the tyrants who killed more of his own kind than anyone, except maybe that crazed Georgian in Moscow. They kept making the same mistake. Napoleon thought a unified Europe was a good idea, and when the corporate capitalists took over, and did just that, it was a fail, a fail for the ages, you’d think they’d’ve realized that the schema of the megalomaniacs makes for a miserable life for all. They didn’t bother learning from history, it just kept repeating itself so they didn’t pay attention.

 

The group walked down the processional avenue towards the lake. Tonks asked Eli, “How is it you necromancers can go back and forth?”

  
Eli touched her amulet. “This is a Hekate’s Seal. It’s given to everyone she chooses. It means I can go through the veil and not die; it’s sort of an ID, communicator with the realm of the living and locator. Actually, as Sirius found out, there is a law, we call it the Persephone Clause, and anything living that crosses the veil CAN return, as Malebron has proven. But, unless you’re a trained necromancer, it’s just about impossible to cross back without help. He was pushed through the Veil while still alive, without an amulet.

  
“You mean you could have called him back?”

  
“I can’t, I don’t have a connection to do so. Only someone with a very strong emotional bond, or a family member, can do that.”

  
Remus stopped walking. “Does that mean you’ll be leaving me, again?”

  
Sirius put his arms around Remus. “No, my love, I can be like Persephone, I can go back and forth, I can’t leave you forever, not now. I have children, you know, I would like to see them, if anyone sees fit to call me back. I was such a shit to everyone, I don’t know if anyone would bother, even if they could figure it out.”

  
Tonks thought about Teddy. Eli spoke to her, “He’s being well cared for and Neville is taking an interest in his welfare. You’ll be able to check on him every Samhain if you want. Starting tonight. You might want to go in disguise; most wizards are Unclear on the Concept, more Muggles understand how it works.”

  
“A large part of how this works is what people believe. You could manifest in front of someone who does not believe that the dead can visit, and they will deny your identity before they would accept the reality of your appearance. Terrans have the ability to make themselves believe what they want to believe. It’s easier to come here because we accept the reality of the realm of the dead and work with it. We have the stations in the Temple of Hekate, you don’t have to know how to send your spirit out, all you do is walk through the gateway. Let’s get y’all something to eat.”

 

Eli and Alan led the group to the Octagon and to the first floor where the Round Table was set up, ate and drank, then went to the 6th floor to dance. When the band took a break, Alan introduced his son Takeshi to the group. Remus stared at the handsome teen. He looked a lot like his father, with a strong resemblance to his namesake. Remus remembered that Yule party at Hogwarts, when Eli and her father played in the band, the night he fell in love with her.

  
He realized that he wasn’t a werewolf anymore. From what he understood of the biomechanics of crossing the Veil, the body he used for the duration of the festival was what he would have been like had he never been infected, his genetic material optimally developed. He stole a glance at himself in one of the mirrors on the wall. He was actually handsome! Tonks caught him admiring himself in the mirror and laughed. She walked up behind him and hugged him, looking over her shoulder at both of them in the mirror

.  
“Eli said we should just look around tonight, and tomorrow she’ll take us to Terra, then we can go find Teddy. And Sirius’s children. Let’s go enjoy the festival. I finally made it to Avalon!”

Sirius flew up on Buckbeak. “I’m going to fly around the lake with my old buddy, see you later!”

 

Tonks and Remus walked, hand in hand, looking at the temple complex, then going to the main stage, where Rory Gallagher was getting ready to play.  Alan's son Takeshi was on stage with him, and Eli was playing bass.  Severus was sitting next to the stage, with his mother and Emerald, at a small table, with drinks and hashish vaporizer.  

"Let's go take a look at the lake.  And Arthur's Tomb."  They headed down to the lakeshore.  The newly risen moon was reflected in the water, the light forming a path to their feet on the shore.  

Remus pointed up.  Sirius was flying past the moon, waving at them.  They soared in over the lake, then dived to the shore, the hippogriff pulling up at the last second, blasting them with air from his wings.  "Let's go find James and listen to the music."  

James was at Arthur's Tomb.  "I can't believe Severus, err, Alan, is the Pendragon, and he gets Excalibur.  Wish I'd known that before.  He and Eli, how can I ever ask forgiveness for all I did to them?"

  
“I think they’re over it,” Remus said. “They seem pretty happy. They always made each other happy, and she did save him, somehow.”

  
“Of course he’s happy, he’s got her and Lily,” said James, with more than a trace of anger.

  
“I dunno, James, I think he deserves to be happy,” said Sirius. “after all we did, I’m glad for him.”

  
Remus beamed at Sirius. “I agree,” he said, giving Sirius a smooch. “It took death to make you grow up!”

  
“You still haven’t learned how to share, James,” Tonks said with a grin.

 

Sirius was thinking about tonight, as he flew around the island. The thing about getting a body back is the old appetites resurface, which is why everyone in Avalon cooked plenty of food, and why tents were set up in public areas, with plenty of blankets and pillows. Neither he nor Remus had ever tried a three way, but it looked like they would soon. Sirius liked Tonks quite a bit. She had hinted that she had experienced something very similar. Tonks knew how to share.

  
Neither Remus nor Sirius knew that the other had fantasies of being in the middle of the other and Eli, of course. For that matter, they didn’t know about Tonk’s fantasy of being in the middle of Eli and Remus. Some fantasies shouldn’t be shared.

  
James’ fantasy, of having sex with Lily when she was 17, was doomed to failure. He’d found out that relationships between those who had reincarnated and deceased wasn’t done. “Too many complications, it’s detrimental to both parties,” he’d been told. “And she’s a returnee, she has a new life, she’s Fey, it wouldn’t be at all the same,” he’d been informed, by those who were helping him with his enlightenment process. He’d thought about it, and realized that was the best course, and he knew, deep inside, she didn’t and wouldn’t want him, not now. He figured out that the “new Lily” could read his mind, and he wasn’t ready to let anyone do that, he knew he had a lot to work out before he could return. One issue he had to deal with was his infatuation with her, and how it was very similar to how Severus felt. Severus, however, did not try to force Lily to do his bidding, and he could have. James realized now he had been controlling and coercive, and at least part of the reason he’d wanted Lily was to take her away from Severus. The only thing that he and Lily had left between them was their son.


	6. The Death of Regulus Blaci

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mystery of the disappearance and death of Regulus Black is finally revealed. Please note that house elves can and do speak freely, and correctly, with humans they trust. The patois used in canon is used with humans who do not respect their species. Elves live longer than humans and are attached to a particular dwelling unless released by the human. Elven magic is something that the Ministry won't discuss, address, or even try to understand.

Regulus knew he was not very good at Occlumency, and he realized that he'd have to keep his latest plan from Severus; he didn't think he needed any help with this mission. He swore Kreacher and Rhiannon to secrecy, "until the danger from Riddle is over and he's dead," Regulus said. "We'll tell only Frank and Alice when I get back, and they must NOT give anything to Severus, for his own protection. I don't want him worrying about me." 

Thus, there were only two who knew of Regulus's fate. 

Kreacher had no opportunity to speak to Alice or Frank, but couldn't break the vow of secrecy without their permission or death, and the "living death" they had been subjected to meant that he and Rhiannon had to keep silent, until the Longbottoms were either recovered or dead. 

On the anniversary of his death, Rhiannon brought one of the diamonds made from his 'ashes' in Avalon to Kreacher. She was accompanied by Alice, Frank, Luna and Draco, who was researching the death of Regulus.

"They have this process, they use a special fire that breaks down the body into its elements," Rhiannon explained. "It's mostly carbon, same as a diamond. They take some of this, and turn it into a diamond. Even the Muggles know how to do something similar." 

Emerald had set the round, cushion cut solitaire in a bevel setting of Faerie metal which increased the light refracted by the stone, on a locket, made of gold, with Regulus's initials formed into a sigil carved into the back. The locket opened to show portraits of Regulus and his mother, that could project life sized holographic images. 

The elf's hands trembled as he gazed at the locket and the portraits. He cried as only an elf can cry, almost silently, tears flowing like a torrent. He put the locket around his neck, fastened the clasp, and charmed it so the clasp was welded shut, forever. He would never take it off. 

 

Kreacher's life had been a nightmare he could not wake up from since the day Regulus died. He sent a message to Walpurga, vacationing with her Count in Monte Carlo, and was informed by him that she had collapsed, at the very moment of Regulus's death. He sent a Fetch to his mother, and after they said goodbye, she collapsed and did not recover consciousness. The Count was horrified and ashamed; after all, he was the one who insisted she relocate to his lands, it was safer there. He'd kept her away from her son, because of his dislike of the aristocrats and politicians in Britain. 

Rhiannon saw what happened in her orb. She was visiting her father in Avalon when Regulus hid the counterfeit horcrux, after giving the real one to Kreacher. Only Kreacher knew what he was planning, and he agreed not to reveal the truth until such time that everyone in the cabal was together. He was afraid for the Longbottoms because he had been informed they were targets of one of Riddle's most devious underlings. 

The High Priestess, Chief Druid, and the Crone responded to Martin's summons when Rhiannon began screaming out what was happening. The acting Commander of the Faerie military took the group to Torayama, where a squad of Azure Dragons was dispatched with them, to collect his remains and transport to Avalon. 

They were met by Kreacher, who had transported himself with elven magic to where Regulus had died. He held his master's head, stroking his face. 

"I didn't want him to go alone. I wanted to come with him. He ordered me to stay home. He didn't want to risk any harm to me, I was his secret keeper," the elf sobbed to the High Priestess. 

Kreacher agreed with them that his body be taken Avalon for his final resting place. He was extremely bitter towards the humans, especially the Ministry, he didn't trust any of them; the only beings he'd ever loved had been destroyed by them, they created the monster dark lord, denied his very existance, dragged the elite, the purebloods, into his own death trip. Kreacher hated everyone in this fight. He hated having to try and live in his home, empty of those he loved and cared for. 

Then those horrible years, when that bully Sirius returned. It was his right; Walpurga was in some extremely expensive private hospital, completely incomunicado. In addition to his own pain, he had to endure the presence of some truly ill begotten, poorly socialized friends of Sirius who had no idea that Regulus was on their side, and had figured out the horcruxes and how to find them. It was a perfect hideout in many ways; he could at least occasionally talk to Severus about their loss.

The only reason he did not destroy himself and the house and join his master in death was he knew someday he could tell of his Regulus's courage. The Crone caught his thought, and placed her hand on his shoulder. "How much do you know of Samhain? she asked. "You know the dead can come back to visit you in this realm if they wish, if they are invited." 

"I had heard of such things," he replied. Kreacher now had a reason to continue to stay alive. He would find a way to deal with the pain, somehow. 

Rhiannon spoke. "He visits me in Avalon, this year we'll come here, would you like that?"

"I don't want to take any time with him away from you, I know how he felt about you, he would have married you and he wanted children with you, he talked about that to me."

"Actually, I see him twice a year. I skip Beltane and go to the southern hemisphere, where the seasons and the festivals are reversed. He never told you why he wanted Riddle dead, that malformed warlock had ordered him to kill you. His plans were to hide the fake horcrux, then take you to the Rim of Fire region to hide; we were to live in the District in Kyoto. He made me promise not to tell you, but now, it's time for the truth to come out." 

The Crone took a small book out of her pocket. "Chapter three should explain something you might like to know. It's about Faerie reproduction. Yes, Rhiannon can have Regulus's child, or more than one, if she wishes."

Rhiannon nodded. "When I am ready. The time is not right. No soul has asked me to be reborn." 

The High Priestess said, "The afterlife is a time where you have another chance at redemption, to right the wrongs you have committed, but it takes a lot of our time, there is no time in their realm, you see." She sighed. "It's a lot better to get your redemptive acts done while you're still here, but no one ever wants to do that."

Kreacher's spirits lifted. "You mean, I may see his children? I must be allowed to serve them."

"Of course you may! I wouldn't have it any other way!" Rhiannon replied.

Kreacher smiled. Walpurga did not live to see any grandchildren. He was aware of Sirius' two daughters, both of the mothers, according to their house elves, wanted nothing to do with Sirius or the Blacks, and that was that. 

Humans mostly didn't realize just how much elves were aware of, or their communications networks and social activities. Some humans, like the Morgan women, Walpurga, Severus Valerius, the Lovegoods, and a few others, treated elves as true equal partners in life. 

Draco apologized for his father's deplorable conduct to Kreacher and all other elves. They discussed the heroism of Dobby, and how elves had helped fight Riddle, and how many of them died in the battle. 

"I didn't like the way my father treated Dobby, he was a wonderful friend to me, even though I treated him more like a pet. He tried to protect me when I was the target; he took a beating so many times to redirect my father's wrath from me," Draco said. "He saved Potter from my cousin."

Kreacher nodded. "His saga is being told amongst us, such courage. Most of us would like to move his remains to our tomb. It's not something we talk about to humans, but I know I can trust you. When one of us dies, all in the area convene at the tomb, the one we use is on the Morgan farm. It's a home for the dead, underground, the only place we can call our own, with no humans in control of us. We keep our social lives secret; too many humans are so brutal, but they are the same to other humans, I suppose."

Frank looked thoughtful. "Most of us don't realize that elves have their own society, their own families, their own lives. They think of elves more like talking appliances, to use a Muggle term."

"I remember during the Tri Wizards tourney, when Jeanne-Marie le Fey liberated the dragons," Draco said. "

He looked at Draco. "Most of your kind are good to us, don't get me wrong. Hardly any are as bad as your father, or that Riddle beast, whatever he was."

Kreacher had set up a refugee camp after the battle, for humans and elves. Grimmaud Place was again a santuary. Most joined the effort to rebuild Hogwarts, then return to whatever was left of their homes and gather scattered family and friends back together. 

After the battle madness cooled, the realization that this war was a huge mistake allowed those on both sides to start to reconcile their differences.   
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LByiVlc6czA  
Throw down the sword,  
The fight is done and over,  
Neither lost, neither won.  
To cast away the fury of the battle  
And turn my weary eyes for home.  
There were times when I stood at death's own door  
Only hoping for an answer.  
Throw down the sword,  
And leave the glory  
A story time can never change.  
To walk the road, the load I have to carry  
A journey's end, a wounded soul.  
There were times when I stood at death's own door  
Only searching for an answer.  
Songwriters: Andrew Powell / David Turner / Martin Turner / Steve Upton


	7. Chapter 7

On the Yule Even after the Resurrection, a hansom cab pulled up to the farmhouse door. Neville Longbottom emerged and helped his parents out of the cab. The door opened, Grandfather Morgan and Jeanne-Marie, came to greet them. Jeanne-Marie took Alice by her hands. “Older sister? Happy Yule, where’s Eli?”

“She’ll be here in a little while. Why don’t you and Frank come in for some dinner?”

“Are we going to Avalon?”

“Yes, we are, Mum” said Neville.

Frank Longbottom looked around him. “I know this place … I’ve been here before, haven’t I?”

They entered the house and were seated at the table. Alice looked around the room. Frank sipped mead. He peered at Neville intently. “Why do I know you but I don’t know who you are? Why don’t I know who I am?” He turned to Jeanne-Marie. “You’re going to help me, aren’t you?”

Alice smiled brightly at Neville. “Eli’s coming.” She turned and faced the door. The door opened and Eli came in. Alice stood up, and Eli ran up to her and hugged her.

“Alice … you remember me>”

“Are we going to Avalon?”

“yes, Alice, just as soon as I’ve had something to eat! HAPPY YULE, EVERYONE!”

 

Neville clumsily got up and walked to the kitchen, followed by Jeanne-Marie. He was trying to conceal his sobbing unsuccessfully when she touched his 3rd eye. He calmed down immediately as she handed him a handkerchief. “I hope you aren’t going to get in trouble, bringing your parents here. You know how the Ministry feels about Faerie medicine, let alone taking patients out of hospital to get treatment in Avalon.”

"I don't think anyone really cares anymore.  They took the surveillance off the Farm, Harry says, they are so short of Aurors and most of the people there don't want to even think about the Fey.  Since you were right all along about Tom Riddle and how the Ministry was full of his supporters."

“ I won’t lie to you, their case is unique. The magic used was a lot more powerful than even the one who created it realizes, she tapped into some truly daemonic power. It may take time, there may not be complete recovery, there may be side effects.”

“I know. Don’t you think this is what they want? You knew my mother. She would take the risk, so would my father.”

“you sure are a chip off the old block, Neville.”

“How is Eli doing? The last time I saw her she was carrying Severus’s body to the Avalon barge. I know he meant a lot to her. And I was wrong about him. I wish there was some way to tell him that.”

“Go wash your face, Neville. Don’t worry about Eli. Are you looking forward to seeing Avalon?”

“The pictures in the globe are so beautiful! Are you going, too?”

“No, I can’t leave the practice right now. I gave the other healers the holiday off. One thing, don’t say the name. Severus Snape is no more.”

 

After everyone had eaten, Eli rose. “Let’s go. Mother is waiting for us.” They wrapped up in cloaks and walked to the Hill Gate. Jeanne-Marie opened the doorway, and Eli took Frank and Alice’s hands in hers. They entered the mists. “Stay close, Neville,” Eli said. “Don’t go down the right hand path. “

“What’s down there?”

“You wouldn’t believe me.”

“Tonight I will believe anything.”

“Merlin’s cave. We’re between the Realms. Time does not matter here. He and Nimue are trapped in a time loop. Neither will leave the other. Worst agoraphobia ever. You know, it was because of their case the Druids banned love potions and spells, they have created so much misery for Terrans. No Faerie will have anything to do with ‘love’ magic. Now, that’s the real Dark Art. Without a love potion, there would have been no Tom Riddle. I mean, killing someone, for cause, is one thing, but to willfully create dementia to get laid, now that’s evil. Did you know Sirius Black actually tried to get me with a love potion?” She laughed. “I don’t think he ever tried that again.”

“What did you do?”

“Minerva handled it ‘off the record’ She let him in on how the active ingredient would have a paradoxical effect on me, due to my training and physiology, and I’d’ve killed him had I drunk it … and I would have had a legal right to do so. Then she made him drink it. Here we are!”

 

The mists thinned and they walked out of a gateway set in the side of a hill to a paved plaza. Neville heard music playing. He sniffed the air. “It smells better here,” he muttered.

A troika hitch, the harness and shafts decorated by countless tiny silver bells, pulling a sleigh with no runners stopped near them, piloted by a Nisse. “Works on antigravity magic, something the Ovates came up with. Very smooth ride. Let’s go to my old place, that’s where you’ll be staying.”

They piled in the sleigh and drove to the address. They passed the hospital and turned down a narrow lane. “Here we are. Tonight you can all stay here and tomorrow they will go meet all the healers. They entered the first floor flat, and were greeted by Emerald le Fey. She held out her hands to Alice, and they hugged for a long time. She took Frank’s hand. “We’re old friends, Eli, why don’t you take Neville to the Octagon? You’re wanted there.”

“Let’s walk,” Eli said. She and Neville set out, and she pointed to the stone tower, six stories high, halfway up the side of a hill overlooking the lake and the transport plaza. “Excalibur is up there. Everyone always wants to see it. And the one who holds it. He is our Prince, the one I dreamed of. We ride together, Excalibur and Dyrnwyn together after so many years. We’ve got a new project, and I’m the head of security for it. Are you familiar with Muggle science? Specifically, theoretical physics? Makes no sense to me, I just go with what the Ovates tell me. Well, you see, it’s like this. We have found a way to go back in time. We can’t change the past of this timeline, but we can create an alternate universe, if we can alter significant events in the recent past. Don’t gape. We tested it. It works. Ovate approved. We’re going back to 1935. Our goal is to prevent Riddle from getting out of control. We will contact Dumbledore, and certain others, and by whatever means necessary, stop Riddle before his first murder. You know, some of the Ovates say that this is realm is an alternate universe, created before we had words to document it.”

“That is … amazing … but as I said, tonight I will believe anything … and I have a feeling this is just the beginning.”

“Too right, my lad. So, how long can you stay here?” "

As long as it takes. Why 1935? “

“It’s complicated. We had to find someone at the right time period who believed in reincarnation, who is in a position to be able to do something useful in furtherance, then find their next incarnation, who also had to believe in reincarnation; it’s a sort of karmic inversion, if you will. I found the reincarnation of General George Patton and it’s tricky to get the information to her. She has to get back to the 1935 world and end the war at the beginning. You see, it’s like those Muggle video games, if you know all the rules, got the cheats, and know all the secrets, you can take down an opponent before they can attack. She sets up transfer points for us, and we apparate. The Ovates say it will work. If you want more detail, ask them. I’m just a time pilot, I don’t have to know how it works, just how to work it. Like magic, eh?”

“I can see the advantage in knowing who you can trust and who you can’t,” Neville said thoughtfully.

“Exactly. You know I think that Riddle’s best weapon was his good looks and charm, which he lost. He was able to get away with far too much growing up and never learned any self restraint. It’s ironic; the Druids doing research on Riddle figured out he would have lived longer had he never attempted creating any Horcruxes. Certainly he had the magic to do something useful; he’s another example of why love potions are the worst magic ever devised. Oh, you didn’t know? It seems that Riddle’s mother used a love potion to trap a man, Tom Riddle, the local rich boy. Poor dear didn’t know any better, she’d been held out of school, totally beat down by her family, the depraved, degraded, and uncouth heirs of Salazar Slytherin, proof that inbreeding for ‘purity’ is an evolutionary dead end. She told him, or he found out somehow, and dumped her. She fell apart, committed ‘suicide by gestation’ -- birthed Riddle at an orphanage, then willed herself to die of it. He was left on his own in a Muggle institution, completely wrong environment for a magical child, where his magic grew like fungus in a clogged drain. By the time Dumbledore got him, he was already too warped to be contained. “

 

“What are you going to do to him?”

Eli grinned. “Make him an offer he can’t refuse.”

They reached the base of the hill and climbed a graceful double stairway that swooped up the incline, surrounding a large doorway set into the hillside to the base of the octagon. As they climbed Neville heard music and voices. “I live on the top floor, let’s take the elevator.”

She led him to a an elevator car, one of two set on either side of the entrance. They were made of clear glass or crystal, large enough to carry at least two dozen people. “The view is great. I have to get changed and then we can go to the main party.”

The elevator stopped at each floor, and revelers joined them, pressing chalices of wassail in their hands. Eli introduced Neville to them, telling them he was one of the heroes of the Battle of Hogwarts. He blushed, insisting he wasn’t all that.

”I saw what you did. You killed Nagini, the last horcrux. If that doesn’t make you a hero, nothing will. You were all heroes in that battle. And in the end, it was the wand that killed Riddle. By usurping someone else’s power he essentially killed himself. Sometimes the hero is the one you didn’t know was on your side, sometimes the hero is the one who makes it possible but doesn’t get the glory.”

“You mean like Sev… I’m sorry … I’m not supposed to say his name. We were all wrong about him. But you knew what he was all along.”

“Just like he knew what you were. ‘I will have no regrets,’ my life is here now.”

 

The elevator stopped at the top. The doors opened to a rooftop garden, a fountain in the center, with a penthouse set on the rear wall. “Nice, is this your place?”

“I’m Captain of the Horse, which means leader of the bodyguard assigned to the Pendragon.”

“Pendragon?” “Yeah, we don’t use titles like ‘king’ here. He is The Pendragon because he carries Excalibur. Alan Pendragon.”

“He’s not of the Fey?”

“No, he’s Terran.” She opened the door to the penthouse and they walked in. “Not bad, eh? Bigger than my old place. I’ll be just a minute, make yourself at home.”

She went to the dressing room and closed the door.

 

Neville walked over to the wall and looked at the pictures. Many of them were of Severus, as well as Albus, and the man he recognized as her father. He saw a picture of Severus and Eli dancing, at what looked to be a Yule Ball. He could make out Prof S and M in the background, beaming at them. He noticed a picture of his parent’s wedding. Next to that picture was one of his parents, taken in Faerie. Gran was standing next to a fountain, and Eli was holding a baby. “That’s me,” he whispered. He was looking at the picture when Eli came back, wearing a knee length cloth of gold tunic with a dragon embroidered on it front and back, over snugly fitting white shirt and leggings, tucked into white and gold boots.

“Do you know what that’s a picture of?” she said.

“It looks like some kind of ceremony. Are you. ..?”

“Your Faerie godmother. You betcha. Never saw that coming, did you? Your grandmother insisted we keep things quiet to protect you.” She strapped on her sword and athame, and put a pair of white gauntlet gloves in her belt. She wore the mistletoe coronet on her head and the ruby ring on her hand.

Neville looked at her, and said, “you look so beautiful, everything is beautiful in Faerie.’

She smiled. “Older Sister thought a retro look would be appropriate, an update on the look when Excalibur was last seen. It’s Yule, it’s fun to dress up. I feel like a cheerleader at a jousting tournament. Let’s take the stairs down.” She led him to a small stairway near the elevator. They went down one floor.

“This is the Pendragon’s residence. Here we go, this is where we make our entrance,” Eli said, steering him to an open stairwell. He could hear music, laughter and voices drifting up. They walked down to a large open room, full of people. Many hailed Eli as they descended, and more wassail cups were pressed into their hands. Neville saw a tall man with black hair across the room. He wore a cloth of gold mantle.

“Is that him?”

“Yes. Come along.”

 

They were about ten feet from the man when he turned around. Neville stumbled to a halt. His face turned dead white, his mouth fell open, “It can’t be.“ he whispered.

Alan laughed at him. Eli joined in the laughter. “I’m sorry, Neville, I should have warned you, but the look on your face is priceless.”

“how… what … this is impossible!?”

“No, it’s not, Neville. It took a lot of Faerie magic and medicine, but I’m still alive and well. I am Alan Pendragon, and my life is here. I wanted to thank you for killing Nagini, and to tell you that I’m sorry for all the anxiety I caused you.”

“I know why you did it, I know why you did everything, Harry told me some of it, Eli told me more, and I figured out some of it myself. I was so wrong about you, we were all so wrong.”

“It doesn’t matter now, a lot of things were wrong. It’s over.”

“You both have to deal with the survivor’s guilt. It’s easier to die than to be left alive to wonder,” Eli said. “Cleaning up the mess and dealing with the casualties always took more out of me than combat.”

“I don’t believe it … you are the Pendragon, who would have thought that?”

“I still have a hard time believing it myself,” said Alan.

 

“Show him Excalibur,” He smiled and pulled the sword from its scabbard, and performed a graceful salute with it, leaving a trail of iridescent vapor in the air, which traced a sigyl that soon evaporated. He replaced the sword in its scabbard.

“Eli, why don’t you show Neville the rest of the Tower?”

“OK” Eli led Neville to the windows overlooking the lake. “this is the Reception Hall where we have most of the parties, because you can clear the floor for dancing. She led him to the opposite side of the room, which was the entire fifth floor, to a hidden staircase behind the massive fireplace and mantel.

“Downstairs is mostly offices, and a studio. It’s built into the hill, so there are doorways leading to the caves where we store the arms, and you can reach the stables from the third floor. These two floors are where we do most of the research into psychohistory for the karmic inversion project. They descended to the first floor. “And here we are, Neville, the Round Table”

The first floor was like the fifth floor, entirely open, with an even larger fireplace, decorated with greenery, lit with green “Faerie lights” with an enormous bronze cauldron standing in the fire.

“Is that the Cauldron of …”

“Uh huh.”

''And Alan was wearing the mantle of Arthur …”

“uh huh … but that’s not the original Round Table,” Eli said, pointing out the huge round table that took up most of the floor space. “This one’s bigger.”

There was a band of Faerie musicians playing “traditional” instruments on the table, with bowls of wassail and place settings at all the seats. “Let’s get some chow.” They went to the fireplace, took a plate and went to the cauldron. “Let me show you how this works. You think of the food you want most right now. Then you pick up the ladle and put it on your plate.” She grasped the silver ladle’s carved bone handle, pulled it out and poured the contents on her plate. “Roast goose, wild rice, herb salad and a honey cake.” She handed the ladle to Neville.

He smiled and followed her example, and they sat at the table to eat. A tall, heavily muscled man with platinum blond hair in plaits, with ice blue eyes sat down next to Eli. “Neville, this is Mikko, we fought together in Tibet. Mikko the Ice Bear. How is Tomoe Gozen?”

“She’s in back eating with the other horses and the Nisser, she’s meaner than ever, now that there aren’t any demons around to kill.”

“I read about you, the Vanir Bearserker, how you swim almost as fast as a dragon and tore apart daemons with your claws … and how you saved so many from hypothermia when daemons sank the refugee ship. I’m honored to meet you.”

“I’m honored to meet the one who slew Nagini, the final horcrux. We watched it, you know. We were always standing by but you didn’t need our help.”

“Oh, come on now, even I knew how much help Eli and the Fey gave Se .. Alan.” ////

 

“Come on, I’ll show you the stables, Yojimbo is there.” They walked out of the front door and she led him around the side of the tower up a path to a stable, built into the side of the hill so every horse had a window to the view. There was a “wing” of stables extending on either side of the tower, connected by a tunnel that led to stairways to the tower, a tack room, and feed storage. The Nisser were having their own party in the tack room, and the horses were invited to share the meal. Eli went to Yojimbo’s stall, reached into her pocket, took out a candied apple and gave it to him. She took out another apple and handed it to the horse in the next stall, an elegantly built silver grey horse, taller than Yojimbo.

“This is Alan’s horse. He never wanted a rider before, he would come in with the other horses but never showed any interest in picking anyone out, until Alan came to the field that day.”

“What’s his name?” “I call him Gorgeous George, his name is Patton, after the general. You’re really tired, aren’t you? Would you like to ride back to your parents and get some rest?”

“Yes, I would. Today has been overwhelming.”

“I imagine it was.” They saddled the horses and rode down the slope, then on the lane near the lake shore back past the hospital and back to the flat.

Neville shook his head. “What a night it’s been so far. So, if he’s the Pendragon, Arthur returned, what does that make you? Morgan le Fey or Lancelot?”

“Both, I think. No marriage here, so no Gwenefere to interfere, to make a mess of things out of ‘love’. His mother is his chatelaine, so I am spared hostess duties, and she is his children’s primary caregiver.”

“His children?” “Yes, he has a daughter, Lily, and a son, Takeshi. I’m not their mother. We do things differently here, Neville. Read up on Muggle reproduction and look up the term ‘artificial insemination.’ The mothers were chosen because they were the best of the best, as far as breeding stock and maternal temperament. The Mother is mother to us all, you see, during her reign.”

“Is it true that you can control whose soul reincarnates with each child?”

“Where did you hear that? Never mind … it’s a Mystery I’m not in on, Neville. Ask the Mother and the High Priestess about it. So, you believe in reincarnation now?”

“It can’t be disproven, so why not?”

 

They stopped at the door of the flat, and Eli turned back to the Octagon. Neville entered the flat. The bedcurtains were shut, the lights dimmed, so he went to the kitchen. Emerald was sitting at the table with two Faeries. “These are the healers in charge of your parents. We’ve been going over Rafaela’s notes on the case. There has been noticeable improvement in the past month, and they know they are in Avalon. First we have to remove the curse, then we have to rebuild their minds, and catch them up with what has happened over the years. Your grandmother will have to help with that, I didn’t know your father very well.”

“Grandmother gave me all the family pictures.”

“That should help. By the way …in case Eli didn’t tell you, it’s not that we don’t trust you, but we’re going to have to put a block on your mind so you can’t tell anyone about Alan Pendragon’s origin. You’re the only one he wanted to know. You should be honored.”

Emerald took her athame and placed it on Neville’s forehead, and spoke the ancient language.

 

“Did Eli tell you anything about the project?”

“Yes … I didn’t understand much. I don’t think I want to.”

“I think your Ministry will have a lot more things to worry about in the near future, like rebuilding completely.”

“Does that mean there will be new treaty negotiations?”

“Eventually. If they can find anyone on this side of the mists interested, maybe once the Ministry rebuilds and does something useful, but until then, Hillgate Farm will be the de facto embassy and everything goes through Jeanne-Marie. They love my eldest daughter in Hogsmeade.”

“Eli’s never going back, is she?” Emerald rolled her eyes. “No, our Prince has turned her into a proper little housewife …MY daughter … she didn’t re-enlist after her last 7 year hitch; I thought she’d be a lifer with the White Tigers but she won’t leave the Realm any more. At least I know she won’t end up dead on the other side of the mists, so I should be grateful. He told her he never wanted to wonder where she was, ever again. She won’t go on a mission without him. I don’t know what kinds of spells she let him put on her, or what she put on him.” She sighed.

“But they seem happy,” said Neville.

“Happy? Maybe he is. You don’t get it, but what she’s going through with him is considered to be a serious mental disturbance here. It happens, especially with those of Terran descent. She loves him and that always ends badly for our kind. To be an emotional captive of another saps our chi. He’s draining her dry.” The healers nodded. “Can’t you tell him?”

“No. It would destroy him. She would not permit anyone to tell him. It’s her choice.” She looked up with a tucked in smile. “But that’s the shadow side of the Warrior, the death wish, they all have it. At least my other daughter is just the opposite, she’ll live a long, long life."

“But you and Takeshi made things work all those years, Gran told me.”

“That’s because he was a traveling man and he never would have been able to settle down in the Terran tradition.” She smiled.” He was a Warrior, too, he put himself in harm’s way to protect others, he knew the risks and he was always ready to lay down his life for his mission. I knew that about him from the start. My life, other than him, was in this realm, he knew how much space we need and he never crowded me. Severus, poor thing, was so insecure growing up he has separation anxiety. He’s still adjusting to living on this side of the mists and he’s hanging on to her for dear life, he doesn’t know he’s dragging her down … she is sure she can maintain long enough so he can live his allotted years here, but her life will be cut short as a result. It is so against her nature to accommodate his needs she has to compensate in ways that are slowly destroying her physical body, she has to take potions and use spells to keep her psyche intact. Her father was Terran so she’s strong enough, but she won’t make it to Crone, and she could have been The Crone.”

 

“It’s like ‘La Sylphide’ in a way,” Neville observed. “I remember all those who died in the battle, I’m sure they thought it was worth it.”

“I am so very fond of him I can understand why she’s doing it, but it still hurts. She did it for Faerie. Put herself in harm’s way to save him and help us, not to mention Terrans. Just like her father. Being a parent can break your heart. You want the best for the children, but you have to let them go, and sometimes they must be put in danger and you can’t do anything about it, except hope you’ve raised them well enough so they have the survival skills to make it out alive. And if they don’t you hope they at least died well. Being a parent is not easy and it’s not for those who can’t handle the pressure. Too bad Terrans don’t understand this.”

 

“She knew what he was, didn’t she?”

“From the day she met him. She dreamed of him before that. The thing about Faeries, when we bond, we give what is needed to the other, and he needed, he needs, so much. She had no choice. Her duty was to him, to bring him back alive to Avalon. She was a commander, she sent soldiers to their death, and she took the same risks herself, it’s not supposed to be easy. Or it wouldn’t be a worthy sacrifice. Warriors are expendable, not disposable.”

 

One of the healers got up. “I’m going to monitor dreams tonight. It’s like defusing a bomb, you have to know what you’re dealing with before you go in and start treatment.”

The other healer said, “This case is complicated. Since Riddle and le Strange are both dead, the spells should be unraveling, since their type of magic has a short half life, so to speak. There’s always a way in, we’ll see what we can do to find it. We have to be careful because those daemons like to leave traps”

“They’re a lot better already; the memory globe seemed to wake up my mother, and Father began to talk about the wedding when we got to the pictures. Gran wept. At the farm earlier, they started to remember things.”

“Yes, it’s time to get them out of that dismal hospital ward. We’re going to need your help in catching them up on what happened when they were trapped. We can copy your memories and compress them, which saves a lot of time during transfer. They need to know you, Neville. Spare them nothing. You saw how Eli’s memories helped; you are their son, and you have the power to clear their minds, but we have to be careful not to overload and shock their systems.'

'The process could take some time, but once the process begins, we can teach Rafaela and you how to take over the therapy.” Emerald said, “They can stay at The Farm as long as you’d like. Eli’s loft over the stable isn’t being used, and I think it would be best to have them around horses, they both loved to ride. Nils can always use good help with the horses.” She carefully filled four tea cups. “Your father worked with Takeshi, and your mother was my daughter’s friend. I want to get to know you. We should have been friends for a long time, and I’m just meeting you now.”

 


	8. Healing Old Wounds

  
The next morning Neville woke up not knowing where he was. It took him a minute to remember. He started the flame underneath the vacuum coffee maker. It was better than magic, watching it work. He’d grown up completely ignorant of “Muggle” things, like basic science, as if he didn’t need to have an understanding of how the natural world was connected to magic.

  
Like horses in blinders, both Wizards and Muggles, he thought to himself, not seeing most of what’s out there. He drank some coffee, then got cleaned up and dressed. The healers came in to the kitchen when they smelled the coffee.

  
“If it’s any consolation, their dreams are normal. So they did have some sort of respite from the years of entrapment in their dreams.”

  
The other healer said, “When Alan and Eli get here, we’re going to the hospital. They haven’t been getting enough exercise, you know. So that will be part of the treatment, daily walks, then dancing.”

  
“Dancing?”

  
“Of course.”

 

Eli and Alan arrived, riding Black Jack and Yojimbo. They left the horses in the back room and opened the door to the kitchen. The horses poked their heads in. Neville made more coffee. Eli brought some pastries they’d picked up from the bakery on the way to the flat. The healers went to get their patients ready to go.

Alice and Frank came into the kitchen, and went to the horses, immediately recognized them and called them by name.

  
“They remember. This is very good,” Eli said.

  
Alice noticed Alan standing near the door. “Eli’s Prince, I can’t remember your name,” she said.

  
“Call me Alan,” he said, smiling at her.

  
“Alan . . . I like that name,” she said., smiling back.

 

Eli saddled the horses. “Would you like to go for a ride?”

  
Frank and Alice smiled and nodded. Frank walked up to Black Jack, greeted him, and expertly got in the saddle. Alice did the same with Yojimbo.

  
“Horses are very therapeutic,” Eli said.

 

The group walked along the lakeshore, then up the main road to the hospital. They were greeted at the entrance and led into a suite that had sliding doors to a courtyard garden, with a fountain. Two unicorns nibbled on foliage. A group of healers, including Rafaela, were waiting there. Alice remembered Rafaela.

Their memories were returning. It was critical that they be carefully monitored when they began to remember the torture. It was possible to treat such memories by drawing them off and transmuting the memories to the archives. Memories, like matter, couldn’t be destroyed, but they could be removed and stored safely. By carefully monitoring the state of mind and keeping the brain chemistry balanced, the damage was mitigated and the patient released from the torture of recalling the trauma.

 

Eli had been treated with a similar process when she returned from combat, as were all warriors. She visited Alice and Frank every day, for a daily ride on horseback and dinner. Alan usually joined them. Neville realized that Alan and his mother had been friends, since Eli showed him the pictures she had with Alice and Severus, which had been withheld from him to maintain Severus’s cover story.

 

Alice remembered him. She accepted and used his new name, saying, “I like your name better now,” when he’d introduced himself. Frank poured over the enormous collection of photos, letters, and assorted memorabilia his mother had collected and saved from his life. As the healers restored more and more of the lost brain cells and connections, more of their memories returned, and more elements of their personalities surfaced.

The mind was holographic; so long as one part of it was still alive, the entire mind could be returned if the physical brain was repaired. Since the damage to the brain itself was caused by magic, the physical brain was not harmed, once the spell’s effects had stopped, the brain began its own healing, and the mind to re-establish itself. The rituals used to exorcise the spell proved to be completely effective, and the healing process was accelerated.

The most dangerous part of the process was when they began to remember what happened to them at the hands of le Strange. They were given strong doses of opiated hashish to calm them, they were held by the healers, reminded that it was over a long time ago, and they were finally free.

 

They didn’t need to be told they loved each other, that came back naturally.

 

Next they had to learn of what had happened to their son, and the world, since their psychic imprisonment. They shared their son’s life when he shared his memories, Frank laughing at his mother’s eccentricities. They were given all the archival material on the “wizarding war” and when Alice found out what happened to Severus, she cried and cried.  
“You were the real hero, and they all treated you so horribly,” she said the next time she saw him. “No wonder you came here to be saved. I always thought you and Eli belonged together here, but not like that . . . I don’t blame you for not wanting anyone there to know where you are now.”

 

Frank and Alice’s treatment continued successfully, and by Imbolc they were essentially cured. They would never get back their lost years, of course, they missed their son’s childhood, and they would need to continue with therapy for their PTSD for the rest of their lives. There are many victims of the War who were in similar need of treatment, and Jeanne-Marie asked Rafaela to set up a clinic in Hogsmeade, so that those who opposed the Fey wouldn’t have to cross their border. It didn’t matter which side you were on at the clinic, everyone whose lives had been touched by the horrors was welcome.

 

The Shrieking Shack had become a shrine to the memory of Severus Snape. People began to fix the place up, little by little, a garden was planted, the building itself repaired, although no one person or group took any control over the renovation, it happened spontaneously. The bloodstains never faded from the floor; no one ever stepped on that spot. People came to pray, to cry, to call out to the departed. An altar was set up, people brought in memorial objects and began to paint pictures on the walls, add statuary, put stained glass into the windows, . At least one of the house elves from the Farm were always in attendance, as the Shack was reborn into a temple.

 

Jeanne-Marie announced that the a scholarship fund was set up, using Severus’s portion of the Estate. His house at Spinner’s End was turned into a refuge for homeless witches and cats.

 

Alan was amused by his canonization, turning from the evil dark wizard to the saint of Hogwarts, and Eli thought it was typical of those idiot Terrans to never get it until it’s too late to matter. As if it made a difference to the dead; as a necromancer, she knew that those who crossed the veil didn’t care at all, it was what you did before the person died that mattered, after all.

 

There was an increase in interest in the Old Belief, of how the dead return on Samhain, and many planned on following the rituals at the Shack, figuring that the blood that was shed would help to open portals. They were right. Because of the events that had happened here, and the collective power of the prayers, spells, and rituals done since the War, the Shack was transformed into a place of magic and remembrance, and for some, a place to pray for forgiveness.


	9. When Harry and Draco Met Lily and Takeshi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Draco come to realize they'd been set up as enemies.

  
On the anniversary of his death, many people made a pilgrimage to the shrine for Severus in the rebuilt Shrieking Shack.

  
Draco always came before dawn, when there was usually no one there, and the place lit by only a single candle below an icon of Severus, holding a book, pointing with his wand, in front of his laboratory bench. He came to cry. He had what some call “scruples” in addition to a pathological self hatred for his many misdeeds, even though most of his problems had been caused by parents who raised him up with all the wrong values. He realized at some point, he should have been a much better person. He was consumed with guilt when he thought of the fate of Severus, and had his own form of prayer to his spirit, asking for forgiveness for his truly despicable conduct towards others.

  
If only he could have spared Severus the pain of having to kill Albus. It was his own cockiness and cowardice that forced Severus to do so, making him a pariah to those he served and protected.

 

Severus’s example of tolerating others intolerance towards him, his equanimity towards those who harmed him, his grace under pressure, his nobility of spirit, helped Draco deal with the pain of being hated. His family’s fall from grace and wealth he thought well deserved, and he was more than willing to leave it all behind, and so he had. He lived like a medieval monk, eating the plainest food, in the meanest shelter, wore the plainest of garments. He renounced his old philosophy, friends, and life.

  
His already lean face was sharpened and refined, his body down to translucent skin over lean, defined muscles and bone. He let his ice blond hair grow long and braided it in a single plait down his back.

  
He could always feel when dawn hit, the moment that was said to be when Severus died. He knelt in front of the bloodstains on the floor, his usual place to pray. The door opened. Draco did not move. Harry Potter walked in and stood beside him.

Harry did not recognize him at first. When he did, he knelt beside his old nemesis.

  
“Hello, Draco. It’s been a long time.”

Draco straightened up. Harry saw the tears glittering in his pale blue eyes. They stared at each other. A tear rolled off Draco’s face and fell on the bloodstain. A curl of mist, with a scent of patchouli, came from the tear.

 

Before either of them could speak, the door opened again. A girl, of about 14, and a boy, of about the same age, entered. Harry felt electricity go down his spine when the girl looked at him. Her eyes were like a kaleidoscope, her hair deep red. The boy had purple eyes.

  
“Are you Faeries?” Draco asked.

  
The boy smiled. He had long black hair, very pale skin, and a prominent nose. Just like Severus’s nose, Harry thought to himself.

  
“I’m Takeshi le Fey, and this is my sister, Lily le Fey. You are Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy.”

  
Draco stood up and bowed deeply. “I am honored to meet you. I admire the Fey. Do you know Eli le Fey?”

  
Lily and Takeshi looked at each other and smiled. Lily laughed. “You could say so,” she said.

  
Harry felt a shiver. It was his mother’s voice. The one he heard in his dreams. The one who met him in the forest that day.

 

Draco smiled. “I remember seeing her at the Triwizards Tournament, talking to dragons. A remarkable woman. My father told me about how she beat him up twice when she first came to Hogwarts. And my father was part of the cabal who murdered her father,” he said, his face falling back into sadness. “You were named after him?” he said to the boy.

  
The boy nodded and took his guitar out and began to play. The girl took out a small, opalescent sphere, set it on the floor. Draco recognized it as a Faerie audio/video recorder.

Harry continued to stare at the girl. She turned to him and smiled. “Yes, it is me,” she said, reaching out to touch his third eye. “But you don’t have to believe it if you don’t want to.”

“I know that the Fey considered Severus to be one of them. Are you here to pay tribute? Did you ever meet him?”

  
The girl laughed again. “I am his daughter. Takeshi is his son.”

Harry and Draco’s chins dropped at the same time.

 

As the sun rose, the sounds of the guitar filled the room and spilled out over the air, carried on the aether that was generated in this holy space. The music seemed to be a magnet for everyone nearby, and people began to come to the shrine as the sun shone through the stained glass window facing the lake.

 

Harry said, looking at the icon of Severus, “He is, was,  the man I would like to be, even though I know I could never be so strong and courageous.”

  
Lily smiled. She began to sing a song, in the ancient language.

 

After about an hour of singing, Lily took a mojo bag from around her neck, made of leather and decorated with garnets, opened it, and removed two silver keys. She handed one to Harry and Draco.

  
“Draco, I hear you’re trying to write a book. If you’d like to learn more about Eli and Severus, this is the key to a room they used in the Hogwarts library when they were students. The Librarian left the room locked, she doesn’t have a key. Harry, if you will, could you take the other key and show it to her? Tell her that Eli wants certain people to have access to the material there. And Draco, I know you don’t want to show your face in Hogwarts. You can get there by the floo network, just say ‘Eli’s Library Room’ to get there, and mind you, you can’t use it unless you have the key on you. Don’t try to remove anything from the room, it’s got some hard core wards on it.”

  
“You want me to help him?” Harry asked.

  
“Obviously,” Lily responded.

 

Harry looked down at the bloodstain. He remembered holding Severus as the blood poured out. He remembered seeing his body being taken away on the Avalon barge.  
“I’ll help him,” Harry said in a soft voice.

“Thank you,” Draco said, almost inaudibly.

Takeshi put his guitar back in its case, and Lily picked up the sphere and put it back in her shoulder bag. They got up to leave, and Draco followed them out. Harry sat, stunned by what had happened. He wasn’t sure why he had gotten up the night before and made his way to the Shack. It was like someone told him to be there. Could this really be his mother? Was reincarnation real? Or was this some sort of evil Faerie mindfuck?

Harry put his hands over his face and began to cry. It was all he could do.

 

Draco stood next to the horses. As they mounted, he asked, “Why are you giving me this?”

  
Lily smiled. “You’re going to write your book and you should be able to learn what you’re writing about.”

  
“Can I see you again?”

  
Takeshi laughed. “No, we don’t plan on coming back here, not in the foreseeable future, none of our people want much to do with your realm, at least not here. You can write, just leave any letters at the guard station in front of the hospital. And no, neither of you are welcome at the Farm, don’t bother trying.”

 

Draco nodded. “Please give my thanks to Jeanne-Marie for sponsoring the clinic in town. It’s helped me a lot. And give my best to Eli. I always wanted to meet her..”

  
He watched them ride away, then turned and walked down the road to the Hogshead. He hadn’t gotten far when Harry came after him. “Wait up, Draco,” he said.

  
Draco stopped and waited for Harry to catch up with him. “Where are you going?”

  
“Back to my room.”

  
They walked along the road until they came to the Hogshead Inn. “You stay here?”

  
“Yes, I do. Abeford needed help after he was injured, you know. He took down three Death Eaters before he got hit with a nasty spell, I help him out as needed. I get room and board and some spending money.”

  
“What about your parents?”

  
“What about them? Oh, they think they love me . .. but they set me up.” He shook his head sadly. “Between my father beating on me and my mother smothering me, I never had a chance to grow up to be a man. I’m trying to do that on my own. Old Voldie sure liked to fuck up families, didn’t he? He killed your parents and turned mine into sociopaths who gave me to him. Their love was toxic, it almost destroyed my soul.”

  
“Albus turned me over to some of the worst child abusers in the Muggle world.”

  
“You could still love their memory. How am I supposed to love my parents? Like Mother, always with that constant whinging, ‘but you’re my only son,’ laying on the guilt trips if I didn’t go along with their program, Father with his not so concealed threats and his attempts to make a man of me by smacking me around, to be as cruel as he is. They never let me earn anything, they had to be in complete control of me and give me only what they wanted me to have. The thing is, they really do believe they love me. I just can’t be around them anymore.”

 

Harry couldn’t think of a response to that. They entered the pub. Abeford was going over the account books.  “Do you need anything, Abe?” Draco asked.

  
“No, everything’s under control,” Abe responded. “Well, Harry Potter, didn’t think I’d ever see you in here again.”

  
Harry was astonished to see how clean the place was. “It looks great in here,” he said. The floor was swept, the bar and tables clean, walls freshly painted.

  
“All due to Draco here. He’s done a lot for the place,” Abe said. “Don’t know how I got by without him.”

Draco smiled as he gave a nanny goat some crisps and her kid snuggled up to him. “I’m learning to cook, get some decent pub grub in here.” He scratched the kid behind the ears and scratched his head where the horns were beginning to bud. “I never got to have any pets when I was young. Mother thought they were dirty.”

Harry thought of Hedwig. “I had only one pet, my owl. She got killed by Death Eaters.”

  
Draco’s smile disappeared. “I know.” He unconsciously rubbed his arm where the mark was.

  
“Draco, let’s go to the library and get you started on doing your research.”

  
“I’m not facing anyone there. Lily told me how to use the floos. You don’t know what it’s like. Everyone loves to hate me. I stay out of sight, it’s better than being hassled all the time.”

  
“I know. That’s why you’re coming with me, and if anyone says anything, I’ll tell them to bugger off. With extreme prejudice. If I can forgive you, if we can forgive ourselves and each other, we can start to heal. Come with me. Please.”

  
“Why are you doing this?”

  
“Maybe I’m realizing that we were children being forced to play dangerous games by our leaders. We were set up.”

 

Draco snorted. “Took you this long to figure that out, eh? All right. But let me change my shirt first.”

  
He led Harry up the stairs to his room.

  
“I never apologized for almost killing you in the bathroom that day. If Severus hadn’t been there . .. I was using a spell I didn’t know, so wrong, against everything we were taught . ..and Albus always covered for me. I am truly sorry.”

  
“Apology accepted.”

 

Draco opened the door, to the attic of the pub. It was spotless. The furniture was nondescript, mismatched, but clean and in good repair. There wasn’t much in the room, just a bed, a wardrobe, a bookshelf and a large table with a single wooden chair. There were papers and parchments, ink and pens, neatly arranged on the table.

  
“You’ve got a great view,” Harry said, looking out over the lake with Hogwarts in the background. He glanced over at Draco, who had taken off his shirt, and couldn’t restrain himself from gasping in horror. Draco’s body was covered with livid scars. He turned and looked at Harry. He pointed to the lines on his chest. “You gave me these, some of them are from my father, and some from Voldemort, and some,” he said, holding out his arm with the mark on it, “I did myself.” The mark was covered with parallel slash marks, some healed, some healing. Draco had become a cutter.

  
“I’d peel off the skin if I could, amputate my arm if I could, but it wouldn’t make any difference,” he said, as he put on a clean white dress shirt, perfectly pressed. Even in abject poverty, Draco liked things nice. He put a leather jacket on, then went to the table, took a notebook, quill and ink, and put it in a bookbag, which Harry recognized as the same one Draco had used as a student.

They left the pub and apparated to the gates of Hogwarts, and walked to the doors. It didn’t take long for word to spread that Harry Potter was here with Draco Malfoy. A few students approached, and Harry spoke loudly, “Anyone who’s got a beef with my friend, bring it to me.” No one spoke while they walked through the halls.

 

When they got to the library, the librarian was waiting for them. “I got a letter from Eli, I’ve been expecting you,” she said. I got some books and journals from my own private office, about Eli and the Fey you might want to read,” she added, pointing to stacks of literature on a table behind her desk. She picked up some of the books. “Come with me,” and led them to the room. Draco used his key and the three of them went into the room. The librarian looked around her and blinked rapidly. “This is the first time I’ve been in here for years. I wanted to keep everything here, in hopes they would come back, so I told them there was no hurry to clean it out, and as alumni, they were more than welcome to come back and continue their lines of research. Severus did.” She left them and went to go back, returning with more books.

 

Harry looked around him. Draco looked at the notes on the table. “Look, Harry, they were researching cures for lycanthropy.”

  
“So that’s why . …” Harry muttered. The more he learned about Severus, the more he realized how completely wrong he’d been about the man.

 

Eli and Alan watched them in the mirror. They smiled.  Mission accomplished.


	10. Mother's Day at the Hogshead with Draco

Mother’s Day at the Hogsheade Inn

Draco sent his mother some flowers and a card for Mother’s Day, with a letter explaining what he’d been doing recently. One of the biggest benefits to his job was that his mother would never set her dainty foot in a place like that, so he was safe from her there. She spent most of her time at the “lodge” in the mountains near Torino, where there was a small colony of exiled Riddle sympathizers, safe from the long arm of the Wizengamot. He got letters from her complaining about everything, from the weather, the other exiles, “your father” and wails of despair about how far her boy, “my only child” had sunk, worse than a Muggle. 

 

“Your father and I, not to mention all our relatives, are a bit concerned about what you’re putting in your book, dear.” 

“Just the facts, Mum,” Draco replied. “you might not want to be here when it gets published.”

“Is that a threat?”

Draco laughed sardonically. “Mother, I didn’t invite you, nor do I want you here, you’re the ‘bride at the funeral, the corpse at the wedding,’ besides, should I have to tell you how rude it is to crash a party?” 

Harry had apparated outside the pub not long after Narcissa Malfoy, stopped to talk with Abeford, who was playing with a baby cashmere goat, a hybrid from a Faerie and Hillgate Farm stock. Harry had never found goats to be all that attractive until he saw her, and he scratched her behind the ears, as he looked around the place. He’d thought it was an odd place to have lunch with your parents on that day, since the patrons were mostly what could be called “mother less” and worse. 

“They’re out on the patio,” Abe said. “Augusta, Frank, Alice, Neville, 

“Patio?”

“Yes, patio, it was Draco’s idea, there’s the door,” he said, pointing to a door on the south side of the bar. He walked out on a stone paved patio, warm in the sun. The wall of the pub was being transformed by trellises and flowering vines. Alice and Frank had laughed out loud when the spat between Draco and Narcissa began and went with Neville to greet Harry. Augusta and Athena were watching the drama, sipping their coffee, taking mental notes. Augusta never much cared for any of the Blacks, male or female, although Regulus did turn out to be a hero. Athena agreed Regulus was the pick of the litter, with Sirius a hero in his own way. Now that they had their children back, they put all their differences in the past. 

Narcissa was too “well bred” and thought too much of herself to make a scene; bad enough she her only son had allowed the Ministry to use Malfoy Manor as an orphanage and hospice, but to have him live in this … goat farm? Even though it did look nice. Thanks to his impeccable taste, thanks to her training, after all 

And now, who should show up but Harry Potter. She activated her portkey and returned to her mountain keep. She knew her limit. She wasn’t sure that there wasn’t a warrant out for her. 

Neville pointed out the landscaping he was doing, creating a “living garden” for the goats in the back yard, which sloped down towards the lake shore, not far from the dock. 

“I put in some stones at the wall, and a hedge of rock rose, the goats love them and they grow very fast even without help.” 

Draco laughed when his mother made her dramatic exit, with her usual martyred look at him, muttering “my only child” and was still laughing as he rejoined his guests. “I don’t think she will be back,” he chortled. The sight of you, Harry, drove her off, thanks a lot!” 

“I needed a break from my mother in law, and she would never come here,” Harry said with a smirk. “It’s an honor to meet you, at last. The two of you are legends, all of us in the Department hope to live up to your example. Would you like to come back for a visit?”

Frank and Alice looked at each other and laughed heartily. “Oh, no, neither of us wishes to return. The only time we get to the City it’s to attend meetings at my mother’s law office, we have a floo key. We hardly even leave the Farm, and of course we spend a great deal of time in Avalon, we are legal liaisons with the Druids. We work with their investigators, their necromancers, who can get the testimony of the victim. We’ve published reports, and if you’re interested, we can send you copies as they are published. We brought you the first book.” Alice handed Harry a book, hemp paper bound in stiffened, double ply heavy silk. 

“Put it away for now, let’s not go over recent history. Tell us about how you’re doing, how everyone’s doing. I know you can’t stay long,” Alice said. They sat at the table. 

“Tell me about the research. A pity Remus didn’t live to see the cure.” 

“So true. Did you read his case history, from Prague?” Frank said.

Harry nodded. 

“I took over the plants Pomona got from Avalon and my parents are continuing the research Severus was doing at his lab on the Farm. There will be a cure. Just a matter of time. The vaccine is already available in Prague and anyone can get it for free. Worth the trip, I’d say. The Ovates in Avalon developed the technology to open gates wherever they want, and they put one in on campus, so the professors can get supplies and advice from the other side of the mists. They even travel to the Healers College and did you know that now the Hogwarts library, and the local Hogwarts library can borrow books from the library in Avalon? They set up a book portal, you know. Madam Pence is thrilled. Did you know she spent time at that library, before the Ministry banned travel across the mists? So did Minerva, Horace, Silvanus, and Albus.”

Alice spoke up, “I remember that trip, for the Solstice, it was wonderful. The festivals in Faerie are so wonderful, I wish I could invite you but you know they are being very picky about letting Terrans in. You have to have a blood relative or be part of the Embassy like we are.”

Frank shut his eyes and smiled. “I remember my first trip to Avalon, at start of our honeymoon, for Beltane.”

“Is it true that the Fey can get pregnant only during Beltane?” Harry asked.

“Yes they can procreate only then but they have recreational sex year round.” Frank said. “Procreation is a sacred duty, and part of their society is maintaining stasis, keeping the population stable.”

Alice drank some of the mead that Abe had poured into her chalice. It was curiously wrought, with a gold dragon forming the base and stem, its upper body wrapped around a faceted rock crystal bowl, with a pearl in its mouth. Abe served the Faerie drinks only in properly blessed chalices, of course. Emerald sent him a new chalice for every new year, since he was a member of the family. He began to spend more time on Torayama, with his nephew, studying the ways of innkeeping and serving food, intoxicants, and entertainment. 

“Only a few women qualify to have children,” Alice said thoughtfully, “and only with approved sires. They use a lot of artificial insemination to get the best results. Seems to be working for them. Where Tom Riddle went wrong was from his conception on. Not entirely his fault, but most with similar, or worse, backgrounds very rarely turn out bad, and some who never had any real adversity or oppression can be the worst tyrants.” 

Draco frowned. “Beltane was ruined for me, I remember Severus’s murder. I met his children. No one knew he had children, hidden away in Avalon, safe from the Dark Lord. He never spoke of them to anyone, so I don’t want to speak of them now. I met them, Harry and I, at the Shrine in the Shed.” 

Harry flashed back to the moment when Lily of Avalon touched his forehead. He recalled how her voice made shivers run up and down his spine. 

“Did you know that the tradition in Faerie is to give your mother a present on the anniversary of your birth?” Alice said. 

 

The door opened and Abe walked in, followed by two Faerie cavalry soldiers and their horses. The soldiers unloaded bottles from their saddlebags, put some of them on the table, and then stocked the storage shed that was cleverly hidden behind a standing stone. 

“My gift from Avalon, from my great granddaughters, Jeanne-Marie and Eli. I am not allowed to sell this, the Fey don’t want to ‘commodify’ their products. This stuff is priceless, literally and figuratively. He picked up a green bottle and presented it to Augusta. “Take this home with you, mead from the Avalon apple blossom honey.” He gave each of the ladies a bottle. He opened another bottle and left it on the table. “I’d best get back to my other guests.” The little dainty goat followed him inside. 

They chatted as they nibbled on the food Draco had provided, salad made from greens grown on the Hogsmeade Commons, fresh bread warm from the oven with butter and Avalon honey, hothouse fruit, Avalon chocolate cake, smoked salmon from the Hillgate convergence as it was called. Three streams converged on the Hillgate property, draining into the lake from a deep inlet with a sturdy dock made of the granite found only on the farm property. Underneath the stone bridge on the road to Hogwarts, there was a public access fishing spot where the streams joined. There was an altar to the goddess of the crossways, popular as the disposal sites for the ashes of banishing spells to be given to the goddess at the dark moon. 

After an hour Harry excused himself. “It was wonderful to finally meet you,” he said to Frank and Alice. I have to get back to my inlaw’s new house, looks like something Frank Lloyd Wright might have dreamed up on peyote. Dear Mother Weasley would not let me come here without a promise to be return quickly, and I don’t want to provoke any long sermons about how I should never come anywhere near a Malfoy.” He picked up the book and apparated back to his and Ginny’s room at the new Weaseley residence. He tucked the book under his pillow. He couldn’t wait to read it, he’d heard that Faerie investigators used necromancy to get the victim’s testimony, and used the help of Themis and Nemesis to get justice for those who died unjustly. 

Back in her Keep in the mountain above Torino, Narcissa paced back and forth, sipping fire whiskey to numb the anxiety she was feeling. She knew she could never return to Britian. Her crimes would be discovered, and she could never go to any areas that had extradition pacts with Britain. The confessions of the Unspeakables and the plot to kill Takeshi would be known, and her connection revealed. Killing them had been the wrong thing to do, since they confessed their misdeeds and ethical lapses to anyone who would listen. She should have paid them off to go hide in Eastern Europe. Even with the improvements to Azkhaban, she knew she could not survive time there. At least this was a safe place, she had all the comforts she had before, she had been allowed to take all of the property she wanted, her wardrobe, jewelry, tools of magic; this was not a bad place to be an exile. Her son was gone from her, he rejected her, he rejected his family legacy, she was alone. On her own for the first time in her life, with no one to tell her what to do, no duties, no expectations, no social constraints. She was still attractive, and there were things to do and places to see. 

This might not be so bad, she thought to herself. It suddenly occurred to her that she might steal her son’s thunder by publishing her own memoirs. Her diaries dated back from when she was first able to hold a quill. Confession was said to be good for the soul, why not give it a try?


	11. Learning to move on

BornAgain/nextch

The next day Frank, Alice and Neville went to Avalon and met Alan, Eli, and Aveline at Emerald's home for dinner. Alice was placed in the seat of honor, Neville noticed. Morrigan, who had moved into Emerald's home when she came to Avalon, sat on Alice's lap, purring and kneading her old friend. The group was telling stories about the uninvited guest, laughing at the memories. 

“I wish I could see the look on Harry’s face when he reads the murder investigations with confessions the necromancers got from the perps,” Alice said. “I’m helping them keep up the files, since their caseloads just went up a few orders of magnitude due to the Riddle Insurgency, as some are calling it now. 

“No kidding,” Eli said. “I’m helping interview them, I know so many of the casualties from school, or their parents. A lot of them are disappointed they can’t face off with Riddle, but because he destroyed his soul, he’s gone forever from the universe, in all the time lines. Quite a few want to know where to find Albus and get a few things cleared up. Like how he and the entire staff at Hogwart’s couldn’t see what Riddle was.”

“Discernment was not one of Albus’s strong points,” Severus said. “He was always easily taken in by charm and beauty, maybe not as much as Horace, but he had his weak points.” 

“Eli, remember when she was hitting on you? That spring, her final year, your father was teaching music classes with Flitwick, first she was making eyes at him, then she started trailing you . . . “

Eli rolled her eyes. “Oh, yeah, that was nasty . . . Horace knew what was going on, of course, but there really wasn’t much he could do with her. Oh, that one night . . . I never told you the whole story. You know that first year I was there I used the prefect's bathroom. Somehow that bint figured out the ward and snuck in when I was in the shower. She attacked me, pulled the curtain open, there she was, naked, literally jumped my bones . .. what could I do? She had me trapped in the corner. I knew she was a masochist so if I smacked her it would only get her hotter . . . . all I could do was grab a towel and apparate to Horace's outer office. There I was, wrapping my towel around me, soad suds dripping . . . the matron and the two student clerks were totally gobsmacked. Horace came out, turned bright red when he saw me. Not sure if he was more shocked at my appearance or that I could apparate; I told him what happened and all of us when to the bathroom. Oh, my goddess Becky, you should have seen poor Horace's face . . . Narcissa was trying to charm my robes and had some really nasty charm, involving body hair and secretions, tried to hide it in my things." 

 

Alice laughed. "Poor Horace. He has such delicate sensibilities. I hear he is writing his autobiography? That should be quite a read. Speaking of writers, Draco let me read his first draft. It looks interesting. Writing is good therapy. So is what he is doing at Abe's place. It's turning into a great pub. Not too fancy, all types still come in, but it's clean. I love the terrace." 

Frank spoke up. "Abe wants me to write up the paperwork so Draco will inherit the place. He wants to retire and live with his nephew. And write his memoirs. So tell me, what happened with Narcissa? No one told me anything, none of my friends were much into gossip, we were the magic nerds of our age. Spent most of our time buried in the library stacks."

Eli looked up with a smile. "Horace had Minerva handle her. He couldn't even look in her direction, the poor dear was not embarrassed in the least about being naked in front of all of those people. She was working it . . . and he was doing everything he could not to look at her, not very easy considering all the mirrors. I grabbed my stuff and went back to my room with Rafaela, we laughed our asses off over that. She was sent to the infirmary and dosed into some semblance of sanity. Whatever they did seemed to work because she kept her distance for the rest of the term."   
I mean, hitting on a younger classmate can get you expelled, but they didn’t enforce that back then, besides, she was a Black, none of them are sane, but her main problem is she’s stupid. Poor Draco. Imagine having parents like that. At least Bellatrix never bred.”

“I heard her own mother cast a sterilization spell on her when she first menstruated, even that virago recognized she was out of control.” Frank laughed at the memories. “Oh, the gossip, I miss the gossip of the Auror’s office but that’s about it.”

“You never got to hear the really hot stuff in the ladies’ room.” Alice smirked. “Turns out that husband of hers married her for the dowry and business connection, with their overseas operations. He didn’t mind her diddling Riddle at all. Encouraged it even, kept her out of even more trouble.”

“Has she shown up with the others at the Crossing, Eli?”

“No, apparently she refused to go, she’s haunting where she died, just a ghost, can’t do anyone harm, I suppose. Perhaps a few centuries of that and she’ll move on. Don’t care, really.” Eli said. “We don’t need her testimony,”

“I hope she knows we got cured, though.” Frank smiled. “We shall have to see to it that a copy of the Daily Prophet with the article about us gets displayed at her place, where she died, of course.”

“At the hands of that cow, Molly Weaseley, how she must hate that . . . will she be stalking Weasleys, I wonder?” Eli laughed. “Another ghost for Hogwarts. The best dressed one, of course.”

“I’m sure the Baron is delighted, he and she are well matched. I hear that the reason she escaped the Wild Hunt was that he hid her spirit in the ruins. I wonder if she’ll go succubus on the students, as well? I’ve read of such hauntings. And he does like to watch.” 

“It’s a good thing that the wards we put on our library room kept him out,” Alan said with a grin. 

“Some ghosts won’t pass over because there is someone, or a lot of souls that they don’t want to face at the crossroads,” Eli said. “Crazy as Bellatrix was, she was not stupid.”

“And the Baron doesn’t want to face the woman he killed,” Frank added. “Has Albus gotten in touch with you?”

“No and I don’t want to deal with him, I hear enough about him second hand from those who have issues with him,” Eli yawned. “It’s funny how many people who hated me when they were alive and thought necromancy was evil have reconsidered now they are dead.” 

“All of this happened because Tommy was afraid of death. And now, he’s dead, and his soul will never reincarnate. Tell me, Eli, do the dead resent how Tommy avoided facing them at the crossroads?” Alice asked. 

“Some. Most are relieved, knowing he’ll never be back, in any universe, ever, he’s been erased from all time lines from the universe, his oversoul shattered and scattered like psychic dust. All those lifetimes wasted.”

 

Emerald went into the kitchen and returned with a large bowl of trifle, with a bottle of sparkling mead. Aveline brought in some ice cream, putting a scoop in a bowl, then a ladle of trifle, and a dash of mead on top. 

As she did this, Alice stood up. She and Frank smiled at Neville. "We wanted you here for the official announcement. I am pregnant, and will have a daughter this Yule. Her name shall be Severia Augusta." 

Neville stared at his mother for a full minute before he could respond. "Oh . . . how wonderful . . . a baby sister! But . . . are you sure . . ."

Eli laughed. "Neville, she's still quite young! You grew up too fast. And they missed it all. Everyone at the Farm is thrilled, there hasn't been anyone in the nursery since grandfather Gwydion was born." 

"We don't need you to take care of us anymore, son." Frank put his hand over Neville's. "You stood by us, visited us, shared your mind with us to help us heal. You had to shoulder such heavy burdens, now it's time for you to cut loose, have some fun. Go out on dates. Find someone who can ride and dance with you, be an academic, the vocation suits you."

Neville smiled at his parents. "I will do as you suggest, Father."


	12. Remembering and Rebuilding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The plotbunnies are leading me to the story of Regulus and Rhiannon. In the calm after the battle, those left alive are trying to figure out what really happened, and this can cause a great deal of inner conflict when heroes are found to be fatally flawed and villains to be the saviors.

  
The more Neville thought about it, the more he liked the idea of a baby sister. His parents were young, and he knew he could trust the medical care she'd be given at the Farm and at Avalon. He'd be right across the lake, a floo away. He wanted children, of course and was willing to foster children whose parents were lost or incapacitated. Augusta had taken a large cottage on the outskirts of Hogsmeade, providing shelter to those in need, helping them rebuild their lives. 

Neville hadn't told Augusta the news yet. He planned a dinner of her favorite foods, opened a bottle of the strongest Faerie spirits. Athena would be there, so was Harry, Ginny, Hermione and Ron, at the cottage that evening. She and Athena had been shopping in Diagon Alley, arriving sporting new dresses and hairstyles. Athena had insisted on the makeovers, which tipped off Augusta that something was going to happen, and she knew better than to try and get that forensic witch to reveal the secret. It would be easier to suborn a goblin at Gringott's.

Alice decided to cut the drama immediately and as soon as her mother in law was seated, stood up and made her announcement. There was a moment of silence that soon was washed away in a burst of congratulations and cheering. Augusta gathered her wits and turned to Athena. "You knew."

"Of course, I'm her mother, you never had a daughter, it's different. I knew before she did."

"Second billing on the name . . . hmmph," Augusta said sotto voce. She stood up, walked to Alice, and hugged her, with tears in her eyes. "A granddaughter, how marvelous, and this time I only have to spoil her." She put her hand on Alice's abdomen. "Severia Augusta Longbottom, we will meet when you are ready, I will be waiting to welcome you to the world"

Harry had been deeply affected by the revelations of the Faerie investigation. He felt so foolish, never really guessing at what Albus really was, at best a co-conspirator who tried to avoid blame when his schemes failed. The ends never justify the means, he didn't accept that, using everyone he could, his parents, Severus, the gullible and easily conned, into following him, then never accepting responsibility for the fallout. Good intentions are never enough, especially when attached with flawed, self serving actions."

Harry paid close attention to his plate, slowly moving the food around without eating very much. The more he was learning, the more he was reviewing the facts and putting together the pieces of recent history, the more he realized how wrong he'd been, how misguided his allies and heroes had been.

He wasn't paying any attention to the conversations swirling around the table. Too many Inconvenient Truths were crowding his frontal lobes and the Cognitive Dissonance was making him more than a little dazed and confused. What was the best course of action? To reveal these facts, which would cause even more suffering and mistrust? On the other hand, it was hiding the truth from those who should have been informed that got this mess started.

Hermione was deep in discussion with Athena Addington, going over recent changes in the Wizengamot and the legal code. Ron had given up trying to follow the conversation and was showing a simple conjuring spell to Vicenza, one of the students at Hogwarts whose family was destroyed in the conflicts. She had been a first year Slytherin, her older brother killed in front of her, trying to protect her from werewolves. She'd been bitten but was under care at the Farm, responding well to therapy. Augusta had found her huddled in the doorway of her new home when she moved in and invited the girl to stay.

"It's nice to have fun with magic again," the girl said with a smile.

Ron's brow furrowed. "You're right. For so long, look how we used magic, can't tell the dark from the light, the more I find out about what really happened, the more cynical I get. Harry, would you take it the wrong way if I decided to hang it up with this Auror gig? I'm not happy anymore. I want to smile again, play pranks on people ... maybe we need to re-open the store, I think everyone's needing some fun and games."

Harry looked up. "That might be for the best . . . Hermione, did you have a chance to read the book yet?"

"Only the first section, about Takeshi Morgan's murder. I never thought I'd say it, but necromancy has its uses. Imagine being able to interview the dead, no way to hide from justice after death."

Athena nodded. "Any time you want to stop by the office, I have files you might want to read. Anything about the dead is now open to anyone with a need to know, and you certainly do."

"I guess that Eli was right it's not about light or dark, it's how you use it and why, and the ends never justify the means. Those who say otherwise tend to be . . . misguided, let's say." Alice giggled. "I remember her first day in Dark Arts, she smacked down that Clary Sage, what a pompous git he was. Whatever happened to him?"

"Last heard from when he relocated to New Zealand, on top of a mountain, off the grid completely," Frank said with a grin. He knew what Riddle was, and ran instead of standing his ground. Things were getting crazy at the Ministry, no one knew who to trust . . . in the end we were vindicated, weren't we, Alice?"

She nodded, and picked up Neville's hand.

"You don't know, you weren't there, we were. Severus saved our lives and spared us most of the pain that was inflicted on us. Severus was my source of insider knowledge, before Albus formed his network. He and Regulus were my agents. We were sworn to secrecy, and until now, this secret has been kept, but since it's over, you might as well know the truth."

"The only killings Severus did were mercy killings, those who had no chance of survival and continued existance was agony, those he could not save. That is the truth of the bravest wizard of our realm. We can share our memories if you like. Rhiannon Simmonds will speak to you of Regulus, she was in communication with him until his death, and he spends every Samhain with her in Faerie, with her father's family. She's one of the expats from Britain, who have sworn never to return. She is running the teahouse for the Family in Kyoto, works part time as a healer, her mother designs kimono, new ways to dress hair, in demand in both worlds. She saw him die, went with her father to retrieve the body. Timing. It's always timing! Regulus told us at the last minute where he was going. We didn't have time to get in touch with Severus when the Eaters grabbed us. Didn't have a chance to tell him, so he never knew until Rhiannon told him what happened. The only one who knew was Kreacher, and he was sworn not to tell anyone except Severus and Rhiannon."

"We have a permanent portkey to Kyoto in the office," Athena said. "We look after her mother's business and personal affairs in Britain, Muggle and magical. If you'd like to speak to her that can be arranged.


	13. MoonDragon/Luna and Draco celebrate Beltane

Luna Invites Draco to the Beltane Fire In which Luna brings Draco to the Farm to the Hilltop, in order to breed a daughter.

Xeno and Luna supported Draco’s rebirth, Xeno offered to publish his research, as well as chapters of his memoirs. Draco insisted that any profits be donated to the Home he’d donated to the efforts to make atonement for the sins of his parents.

Harry ran into Luna and Xeno at the Hogshead, where they were seated on the patio that overlooked the lake. The goats grazed on the rock terraces with their favorite plants.

Draco greeted Harry and went back inside to get him a hard cider made from Avalon apples and some more food. Harry spoke softly.

“I never knew how much he suffered, in his family, under the dark one . . . he is covered with scars, including some I put on him.”

“His Warrior Marks, I suppose,” mused Xeno. “He learned some hard lessons, admitted guilt, is making restitution as well as penance. If anyone deserves another chance, it’s him.”

Luna nodded. “Did you hear that his mother is publishing her memoirs, including her journals? I got a sneak peak . . . seems she had Takeshi Morgan murdered because she couldn’t seduce him, and even tried to seduce Eli when she was 13 . . . she had Daddy Issues and went both ways, and Lucius loved to watch . . .goddess have mercy, some people, no wonder poor Draco was so disturbed.”

Xeno laughed heartily. “It’s being published in Rome . . . the editor and I are old friends and he sent us a copy hot off the press, it will be a best seller, I have never seen so much raw sex written in such a dainty fashion! They’re releasing the books, one per year, from the beginning. Narcissa will be so rich!”

“Does she admit to the murders, starting with Takeshi Morgan?” Harry asked. “I’m still waiting to get an official copy of the investigation by the Druids in Avalon. They refuse to work with the Ministry.”

“That’s public record now,” answered Xeno. “I already published my take on the murder and investigation, and I was right from the start, it was an “inside job.”

Luna nodded. “His murder was not planned by Riddle but he benefitted from it. The Malfoys hated the Morgans and the Fey. Morgan was getting too close to the truth about too many things they wanted to keep obscured.”

Draco returned with a bottle. “Private stock, it’s from Avalon, left in the library room. I’m pretty sure Eli’s monitoring what I’m doing in there, that mirror is quite powerful . . . I’ve been reviewing Severus’s notes, the ones he kept hidden . . . only Madame P knew of the room and she did not have access. So Luna, you’ve read my mother’s journals? Quite a bawdy lass in her school days, wasn’t she? Those houseparties did get to be orgiastic, and of course Riddle kept track of it all, he liked to control people using whatever method worked best, sex, money, power, whatever. My father liked lads, the Durmstang sort, they’d share both genders. But they had to agree on the additional bedmates.”

Xeno leaned back and laughed. “Yes, she was really something, one of the most fatally beautiful witches ever. She’s even more captivating than her sister Bellatrix, whose activities are legendary, since Narcissa was always a lady in her debaucheries. Silk sheets and exquisite lingerie, in the best of taste. She was the most beautiful of the Black women.”

A bell rang from inside.

“You’re food’s up,” said Draco. He got up and Luna went with him.

“Have you got plans for Beltane?”

“Working, I guess. Ever since Haemir came here, I have less to do. His entire family was wiped out and the house burned to the ground, he had to find the bodies of his family and see to their burial . . . he was the only being left alive, despite the best efforts of the Eaters he survived. They saved him at Jeanne-Marie’s hospital.’

She reached into her bag and handed him an envelope. Draco put it in his pocket to pick up the tray, with Luna bringing more chalices for the guests.

“What’s this?”  
“Your official invitation to the Farm for the Beltane fire. You have a 24 hour pass, allowing you on Faerie territory. The catch is you have to stay with me the entire time. I’m responsible for your conduct.”

“What should I wear?”

“Don’t worry; I’ll bring you robes to wear. I’ll floo to your room before dawn, it’s right down the road. We want to be there when the sun comes up because that’s when the fire is lit.”

As if she could read his mind, she added, “I already asked Abe for the time off for you, he’s fine with it, says you deserve some fun.”

 

I’ve always wanted to see that Farm. . . I know Eli won’t be there, she won’t come here. Is Jeanne-Marie going to be present?”

“Only to light the fire, then she is flying on her Palomino, with Alice and Frank, to Avalon, but she will give a blessing to all who are lining the path to the Gateway to Avalon. When the sun begins to rise, the gates are opened, and we can go up the hill to watch the fire being lit. When the sun fully rises, the High Priestess for the ritual holds up the mirror, catching the full light of the risen sun, the Faerie fire is lit, and the party has begun. We should walk the Spiral to the top of the hill; the view is spectacular.”

Draco didn’t have time to decide to accept the invitation; customers came into the pub and he had to get back to work. Luna and her father left before he could speak to her.

 

Two hours before dawn Luna arrived. Draco had coffee and hashish ready. He wasn’t sure about what would happen. Luna had never shown any interest in him in their school days, and then, after what happened to her, in his home, why did she invite him to this party? With Luna, you never knew why she did anything.

She brought a large shopping bag, with clothes for him to wear, made of dupioni, loose trousers, a pullover short sleeved shirt, and an ankle length, long sleeved robe, in shades of shimmering violet. She placed a diadem, decorated with jewels matching the robes, on his head, holding his hair off his face. She’d taken out the plait, brushed his hair until it shined, flowing down his back.

She was dressed in something like a kimono, the outer robe woven in shades of pink, the inner robe a shade that could only be described as vagina pink.

Draco was only human. He’d been so sickened by the pathological sexual behavior of the Death Eaters he’d gone asexual, but he could not ignore the pull of the seasons. He’d never seen Luna to be so attractive. He’d already had to use the Vadis Erectione spell. Out of all of the survivors, why had she chosen him to invite to the Farm?

“I thought I couldn’t go to the Farm; you must have some kind of pull,” he said, as he changed his clothes.

“They like me. I have Faerie blood on both sides, you know. Cordelia Morgan was close to my parents; she got my father started publishing. She was took care of us when my mother died.”

“You’ve met Jeanne-Marie and Eli?”

“Yes, they’re both quite lovely, in all ways.”

“Severus told me to keep my distance, how she’d beaten up my father, and my mother, well, she’s admitted to virtually sexually assaulting Eli in school, and murdering her father.”

“You can’t choose your parents, now you’re on your own, I like you so much better now.”

Draco smiled. She’d forgiven him what had been done to her by his family, his friends, and inviting him to the Farm on Beltane, he just didn’t feel worthy. She knew that his suffering had been intense, and didn’t hold what had happened to her against him. Her father, on the other hand, retained a great deal of hostility towards the Malfoys, for leaving him no other option than to compromise the truth to save his daughter.

“I thought your father despised my family, what does he think of you inviting me to the Farm?”

“He knows this is what I want. Come on, you’ve always wanted to see the Farm, this may be your only chance. Let’s walk to the Convergence, you can see the fire from there. When the flame goes on the gates open. Make sure you bring your invitation.”

Draco picked up his worn leather shoulder bag, Luna took his hand and they walked out of the pub and into the street. Hogsmeade had on its holiday best, garlands of flowers and ribbons decorated the doorways, windows, and eaves of the buildings. The pubs opened early and closed late for the celebration. A few people were setting up areas for performing arts and dancing.

They walked down the road to the Shack, where Draco stopped to light a candle and burn some incense. At the bridge, they went underneath it to the shrine, where Luna said a prayer to her mother, after leaving a dish of trifle she’d made, with sandwiches wrapped in a napkin.

Luna took his hand and showed him the path under the bridge to the entrance to the Farm. There was a small group of people there, and Luna seemed to know all of them. She made the introductions, and to Draco’s surprise, no one gave him The Look because of whose side he’d been on.

At the moment a neon sliver of sun showed on the eastern horizon, the gates opened. Luna led Draco past the guards, who greeted both of them by name. Neville was waiting for him with his parents, Alice holding an baby.

“This must be Severia,” Draco said.

The baby smiled at him. Her eyes were the darkest shade of blue he’d ever seen, her hair ringlets of pale gold. He handed Frank the bottle he’d brought with him.  
“Happy anniversary.”

“Thank you, we’ll bring this with us. We went to Avalon for our honeymoon, you know . . . Jeanne-Marie is bringing us with her on her Palomino to celebrate there, Severia will stay here in the main house in the nursery. So you and Luna can use the loft over the stable, here’s a key amulet.” Frank handed Luna a silver key on a lanyard, which she put around her neck.

Alice said, “You wanted to know about Eli, the loft is where she lived when she was in this realm. Anything in there you shouldn’t touch is charmed, you’ll feel the ‘force field’ if you try. Part of the loft is a studio, and Eli’s cousin Karinui and her Younger Sister Oniyuri, from the same mountain where Takeshi Morgan was born, will be dancing later.’

The sun cleared the eastern horizon, and on top of the Tor, Jeanne-Marie lifted the mirror, caught the reflection and directed the light to the black crystal in the center of the fire pit. The crystal burst into a flame in all colors of the spectrum, rising to the sky. The bands set up in various spots in and outside of the buildings began to play, as she flew down in her animagus with Haniel. She landed in front of Alice and transfigured, as the Palomino alit next to her. The winged horse lowered her head to Severia, and the baby gurgled and touched the velvety muzzle, the horse whuffing a greeting.

Neville grinned. “She loves creatures, they all watch over her.”

Jeanne-Marie turned to Draco. “Thank you for the copies of your book. You’re a good writer. The Druids are impressed. It’s been decided you can be allowed on the Farm, provisionally, to do research, but you have to have an escort. Luna volunteered for the task. A Blessed Beltane to you, Draco.” She placed her hands on his head and uttered three words in the dragon language.

Alice handed Severia to the Faerie, who kissed the baby and gave her to Neville. She lifted Frank up to the saddle, then Alice, then leaped to the front of the saddle, and rode into the gateway to Faerie.

 

Luna took Draco’s hand. “You heard her, you have to respect my authority and do what I say.”

Neville laughed. “Come with me, I have to get my sister to the nursery, I can show you the house before the parties get too loud.”

Neville lead them to the main entrance, to the Great Hall thronged with guests. It took a lot to impress Draco, but he was impressed. The Morgans were Old Money, the Malfoys were most definitively nouveau riche in comparison.

They went to the second floor, where the nursery was located. Augusta took Severia from Neville, and told him to go have some fun at the party.

Neville showed them the way to the greenhouse, his favorite place on the Farm. He pointed out his favorite blooms, while Luna told Draco about Cordelia Morgan.

“Let’s go see the loft,” Luna said.

 

Neville led them to the stables and up the spiral stairway to the loft.

“The studio where they will be dancing is on the other side of the curtain, it’s Eli’s dojo. My mother used to work out here with Eli when they were students together. I’m going to help them set up the room, when you hear the music, join us.”

Luna went to the bedside table, turned on the music sphere, playing some traditional Faerie Beltane songs, sung in the original language of the Fey. “The altar is different, it’s Alice's altar now. You can touch what you want on it. You can use the pensieve and there are some of her memories they want to share.”

She pulled back the bed curtains and flopped down on the bed. “I had such a girlcrush on Eli . . . so did a lot of the girls.” She threw one of her legs to the side, revealing her thighs. She wasn’t wearing anything under the robe.

Draco moaned softly. He couldn’t help himself. He went to the bed and sat next to Luna, and ran his hand up the exposed inner thigh.

“Why am I here with you?”

Luna laughed. “Because I’m ovulating and there is a soul who wants to be born of me with you as the father, Draco.”

Turn to Page 394

 

 

白百合 Shirayuri Lily (White)  
小百合 Sayuri Lily (Orange)  
百合 Suzuran/Yuri Lily of the Valley/Spider lily  
鬼百合 Oniyuri Tiger Lily  
54 more rows

http://www.flowershopnetwork.com/blog/hanakotoba-japanese-flowers/  
In the Victorian Era, flowers were used as a means of communication. Each flower had it’s own, particular meaning and bouquets were used to send coded messages. People today still send flowers chosen specifically for their flower meanings.  
Not only did the Western world have its own coded, flower language, the East had one as well— Hanakotoba, the Japanese language of flowers. Although, obviously not as popular today as it once was, Hanakotoba is still used in many Japanese movies and animations.  
Kanji English Meaning  
アマリリス Amaryllis Shy  
アネモネ Anemone (white) Sincere  
椿 Camellia (red) In Love  
椿 Camellia (yellow) Longing  
椿 Camellia (white) Waiting  
カーネーション Carnation Passion  
桜 Cherry Blossom Kind/Gentle  
黄菊 Chrysanthemum (yellow) Imperial/Elegant  
白菊 Chrysanthemum (white) Truth/Self-Esteem  
水仙 Daffodil Respect  
天竺牡丹 Dahlia Good Taste  
雛菊 Daisy Faith  
勿忘草 Forget-Me-Not True Love  
フリージア Freesia Immaculate  
梔子 Gardenia Secret Love/Pure  
紫陽花 Hydrangea Pride  
アイリス / 菖蒲 Iris Noble Heart/Good News  
白百合 Lily (white) Purity  
百合 Lily of the Valley Sweet/Promise of Happiness  
鬼百合 Tiger Lily Wealth  
マグノリア Magnolia Natural/Love For Nature  
雛芥子 Poppy Comfort  
紅薔薇 Rose (red) Love/In Love  
薔薇 Rose (white) Innocence/Devotion  
桃色薔薇 Rose (pink) Trust/Confidence  
黄色薔薇 Rose (yellow) Noble  
チューリップ Tulip Charity/Trust  
Contact your local florist today and ask for an arrangement using your favorite Hanakotoba flower meanings.  
Paulownia (kiri), bitter orange (tachibana), lily (yuri), green maple leaves (ao-kaede), Japanese iris (hana-shoubu), rabbit-ear iris (kakitsubata), Siberian iris (ayame), pear flower (nashi-no-hana), bamboo (take) specifically young bamboo, deutzia crenata (u-no-hana), gymnaster savatieri (miyako-wasure).


	14. Chapter 14

MoonDragon Beltane Part2

Luna looked into Draco’s ice blue eyes with a blissful smile. “You want to know why I did that. I dreamed of a child, who asked that you be her father. It’s a Fey thing. You wouldn’t understand.”

Draco didn’t know what to say. He’d read a book about Faerie anatomy and physiology, knew that they were fertile only at Beltane, but didn’t realize this was also the case for Terran women with Faerie blood. He’d read about how they birthed children only when the child requested it, and only when there was room; population was kept at the same level, the optimal level. 

He sat up and took three hits from the hashish vaporizer on the bedside table. 

“We have to get married, don’t we?”

Luna giggled. “No, we don’t. In fact I won’t. My child will have my last name, but you can give her her first name if you wish. You’ll have to be with me at the birth if you wish to have parental rights, of course. Your duty right now is here, and my duty is to my father, my village, we’re building a new home. Father won’t leave Mother’s grave, so we stay. He’s got a printing press in the village, the business is doing well, now that he was proven right about just about everything, he’s got more respect than the Daily Profit.”

Draco was silent for a moment. Then he chuckled. “My mother would be shocked, her only child having HER grandchild out of wedlock with that Lovegood girl . . .’Not our kind, dear,’” he said, imitating her voice. 

“but I don’t have much money. . . no child of mine should do without. . . “

Luna stroked his face, murmuring, “My father loves your writing. Let him publish you and give us a place to stay when we’re here. Abe told me he’d giving you the Hogshead, he wants to take some time off to travel, and since he’s the last of his family, he’s got enough money to go see some places he’s only heard of, visit some old friends.”

Draco grinned. “From the heir of Malfoy Manor to an innkeeper in Hogsmeade . . . I did get lucky in the end. He probably won’t go if he finds out you’re pregnant . . . or will be . . . so other than that, what are your plans for the holiday? I’d rather stay here and do some investigation.”

“I’m staying right here,” Luna purred. 

 

Neville wasn’t surprised when Luna and Draco didn’t show up. He expected as much. He was being followed by several women, but was too shy to say anything to any of them, so it soon became a competition between the women. 

A good time was had by all.

 

A full cycle of the moon after Beltane, Luna sent word that the pregnancy ‘took’ so clear his calendar next January. She was staying with the Diggory family, who were ecstatic over the idea of a baby. They were fostering two children whose parents had died in the attack on Diagon Alley. 

Xeno Lovegood worked on building a new home, while living in the back room of his publishing firm in the Village. He was thrilled when he heard that the pregnancy was confirmed, and it would be a girl, as Luna had foreseen. 

Either Alice or Frank escorted Draco on the Farm when he wanted to do research. They gave him permission to write about the past with Eli and Severus, insisting that what happened in Faerie stayed in Faerie. 

Harry was conflicted when he read the first drafts of the chapters dedicated to Severus’s school days. His father had been a terrible bully, even if his mother had changed him, what she did, cut him off for a single incident of a verbal insult, seemed a bit extreme. Hermione told him that your parents were human, they had flaws, and Severus did make amends, even though he didn’t start it. 

Gellert’s autobiography was even more enlightening. Harry didn’t want to believe his revelations, but had to accept how his story fit the facts perfectly. He thought of Sirius, telling him we are all good and bad, it’s what you choose that makes the difference. Albus let some things get out of control, he made mistakes in judgement about others, just as Harry himself had. Albus was a user, for “the greater good” always but you can’t always tell ahead of time how good intentions will turn out. 

For the next eight months Draco kept himself as busy as possible, working at the inn and writing. Luna decided she wanted to have her child at the Farm, under Jeanne-Marie’s care. She was moved into a room at the top of the hospital, with a view of the lake and Hogwarts, with Xeno and Draco in constant attendance, for the last week of gestation. The night she was born, the sky lit up with the Aurora Borealis, as Draco held his newborn daughter in the flashing lights, he said, “She will be called Aurora, the daughter of Luna and Draco.”

By the time Luna and Aurora were ready to travel, the new Tower had been built, under the direction of Masons from Faerie. It was made of native stone set in concrete, at the foot of the hill where Pandora had her grave. Xeno moved into the top floor, and Luna and her baby had the second floor. The first floor had a kitchen, with a front room turned over to a messy home office for Xeno. 

The Diggories and their wards were preparing a housewarming party for them. Molly Weasely declared that if Luna could forgive Draco, it was time to let bygones be bygones, the child a sign that life goes on, we mourn the dead and live what lives we have until we join those we mourn. Aeron drove Draco and the Lovegoods to their new home. 

Draco’s work load at the Hogshead was decreased when another displaced house elf joined his staff. Abe was transferring the bookkeeping and management to Draco, when Abe felt his protégé was ready, he would be off on some adventures. He shoo’d Draco out the door telling him there was no hurry getting back.

 

When they arrived at the Tower, Draco sought out Molly Weasely, and shook her hand. “I am proud to shake the hand of the one who sent my wretched aunt to hell,” he said. “She was the worst person I ever knew, well, tied with Tom Riddle, of course.”

Molly laughed. Arthur chimed in, “Did you hear she refuses to leave where she died and is now haunting Hogwarts?” 

Draco laughed with them. “So I hear. So the Baron has a new girlfriend, they deserve each other.” 

“Her eyes . . . “ Molly said under her breath. Aurora’s eyes were silver, and if you looked closely different colors were reflected, depending on the light source. Her hair was the palest blonde, already formed into curls. 

The party didn’t last long; the guests all left gifts of food in the kitchen, enough to get them through the next week so the house elves had time to get settled in. 

They soon settled into a pattern, on Monday, the Lovegoods would go to the Inn, Luna would proofread his copy, pass on the corrected proof to Xeno, who made suggestions to Draco, who took care of Aurora. 

Draco had written to his mother, sending her a copy of the birth announcement, with no comment. He hadn’t heard back from her yet.


	15. Chapter 15

 

Lucius smiled to himself as he read his son's letter notifying him of the birth of Aurora Lovegood. Just as well she was using her mother's surname; Malfoy's name was Mudd, so to speak.

It indicated that the Curse of the Malfoys was over. The toxic secret his family had been concealing for so many generations, since before the Statute.

His long ago ancestor, whose Y chromosome he carried, offended a Faerie by abusing women, using them as breeding animals. He'd had a harem, much to the displeasure of his wife, who was “Mayfair got” and was of the Old Religion, and a friend of the Fey.

He'd used the excuse of Beltane to rape a girl, who turned out to be one of his many by-blows. This offense was so great, when the wife, whose name was not recorded, sided with the girl and her mother, and asked a favor of the Great Mother, who struck the archetypal Malfoy with a curse, that his descendants would never have daughters, and whose sons would destroy each other to dethrone the patriarch, something along those lines.

 

That was the history of his family tree. In order to avoid fratricide, Lucius chose to have only one son. He'd never told Narcissa of the curse, and was aware that her miscarriages, which caused her so much distress, to the point of madness, blaming herself, when it was his fault all along.

Somehow Draco broke the curse. He looked at the framed picture of Luna, Draco, and Aurora they'd sent with the official announcement. She was a Malfoy, he could see his own face in hers, she looked so very much like Draco did. His son looked happier than he'd ever seen him, the worried look gone from his brow.

Lucius was more than happy to allow the Malfoy line go officially extinct. No child would ever bear that name! The Fey had it right. Male primogeniture resulted in an inbred mess of cousins marrying cousins, weakening whatever strength the progenitors had.

The other part of the curse is why he allowed Narcissa to have only one son. The tradition of fratricide to determine inheritance did have some evolutionary advantage, but from the day Draco was born, he could not allow his son to follow the same path he had. He'd tried to make his son “tough” but realized it was more adaptability and flexibility that determined the most fit to breed, not merely brute strength and willingness to use magic for all the wrong reasons.

Things change. Species go extinct. Everyone dies in the end.

 

Lucius had made his peace with the past. Conditions in prison had been vastly improved. Visits from family and friends were allowed, with permission. Each prisoner had an individual cell, with very basic amenities, similar to how “servants and elves” lived in Malfoy Manor. He had a window that overlooked the ocean; he could watch the moon and stars at night, and sun during the day. The food was decent, if uninspired and bland. They were even allowed wine and other intoxicants, and a prison library was being created, in addition, his Continental cousins kept him supplied with his own books and writing equipment. He missed his wand, which was secured in the crypt below the prison with the other prohibited magical articles. If he was ever released, he'd get everything back.

He wasn't sure he wanted to be released; there were just too many people he didn't want to face. He'd been 'to the manor born' and didn't want to have to fit in with the hoi polloi. Draco's sentence was far worse than this, his son had to face the scorn and disrespect of the victors and noncombatants. Lucius would rather stay here, in his neat, spare room. It was like that Muggle saint, Ignatius, this was his Manresa. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_Saint_Ignatius] He was allowed to work, helping out with the rebuilding of the prison, and used his impeccable sense of order to redesign the floor plans, creating an exercise yard, an auditorium and a classroom. Might as well make the best of it. He made a bad choice, siding with that Riddle freak. He'd allowed his ego to be seduced by the 'purebred supremacy' codswallop Riddle was peddling to the elites. Lucius never thought immortality was possible, or even very desirable. So why did he go along with the self-proclaimed dark lord?

Stupid, stupid move on his part.

Choosing Narcissa was his second worst mistake.

What was he thinking, marrying a Black? Sure, she was beautiful, a perfect hostess, and the hottest thing in bed he'd ever had or even dreamed of in his darkest, most erotic fantasies, but she had that homicidal destructive side, like her sister, displayed in her murder of Takeshi Morgan.

He looked at the wall where he had put up pictures, at one he'd clipped out of a copy of Lovegood's latest, of Eli le Fey on her horse, before she left Terra forever, bearing Severus's body on the Avalon barge.”

He'd been raised to hate the Morgans. “Not our kind, dear,” as his mother used to say. Old Believers and Faerie sympathizers. And the women never married, to keep their name and legacy. Uppity witches who were all talented, gorgeous, and admired for their strength and joy in life.

Takeshi Morgan was thought to be the worst sort of heretic, like Carlotta Pinkstone, who wanted to give Muggles and Magical Creatures equal rights, end the apartheid. He'd been accused of violating the Statute, but there was no hard evidence of this, no matter how hard they looked for any dirt the Aurors couldn't find it. His involvement in “Muggle Music” was thought to be a crime in itself, but since there was so much precedent of the magical people involved with the arts, acting as muses, while learning from them and infusing the culture with new perspectives, it simply wouldn't work. Most of those in the arts admitted that both sides needed the other to maximize their gifts.

 

He heard a knock at the door, and when he opened the door, a guard said, “You have a visitor.”

Lucius was surprised. “Me? Who'd want to see me? Everyone I know is dead, in here, or can't get permission to come here.”

The guard stepped aside and Lucius was surprised to see Xeno Lovegood. Someone he'd always despised and ridiculed. But now had enough pull with the Ministry to come here to write his stories about what was being done to Azkhaban.

Lucius smiled genially, waved his old nemesis in as graciously as he ever did to guests at Malfoy Manor, offering Xeno the only chair.

“Thank you for sending the picture,” he said. “I suppose since we share a granddaughter, we're on a first name basis, Xeno.”

 

“I understand that the Ministry is not going to allow you to publish my wife's memoirs,”

“That means that the Italian publishers will get all the profits,” Xeno laughed. “Copies are already being sold in Nocturne Alley. Would you like one?”

“No, I read the original, as it was written. Narcissa has exquisite penmanship, not to mention the drawings she made, and the pictures she kept.”

“They can't print the pictures, but they are including the drawings. She does have some talent, or should I say talents . . . goddess have mercy, but she was creative in bed, wasn't she? And probably still is. Do you miss her?”

“NO,” he said, shuddering. “I got caught in her web, her clinging, needy web, she clouded my mind and I let her to do that. She has no loyalty to anyone, see how she switched sides so easily? Only thought of herself, and her son, whom she saw as a mere ego extension, not a person in his own right. She was the one who convinced me to go along with that Riddle freak. Because her sister was fucking him and probably that horrid snake, too. I'm not saying it's all her fault, I went along with it. She always played the victim card, always blaming someone else. Now that I'm free of her, I can see things so much more clearly. Her mother chose me and trained her daughter well.” He sighed. “I felt guilty, I suppose, knowing that her miscarriages were entirely my fault, I should have put her aside, but guilt and lust are a combination punch that would knock out anyone.”

“Maybe if you'd told her of your curse . . . I take it you never told Draco?”

“I suppose I should have, and now I have to . . . I have tried to write about it in a letter, I would prefer to tell him in person. If he can ever get permission to visit.”

“Consider it done.”

“You have that kind of pull with the Ministry?”

“Not really, but the Chief Druid in Avalon will request we allow Draco to visit, since they are authorizing his investigations into the 'Riddle Insurgency' for their archives, and he's one of their Terran investigators now. Officially. The Ministry knows better than to turn down their requests.”

“What if he doesn't want to see me?”on the table. “Speaking of Avalon, I see you have a picture of Eli le Fey on your wall. Is it true that she beat you up twice?”

“He does, and he asked me to ask you to proofread his material, here it is,” Xeno said, digging into his satchel. He pulled out a thick bundle of paper tied with a cord, and set it

Lucius nodded. “First time as her animagus . . . that was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life, to suddenly have a Faerie tiger grab me by the neck. What did you think of my wife's attempt at seduction in the shower at Hogwarts? And how she kept trying to get Severus to bring her in for a fourway with us?”

“Would you have . ...”

“Without any hesitation, Narcissa was raised to be the perfect hostess in all ways. So Eli never came back from Avalon, after taking Severus on the barge? I saw the vid on that.”

“The only Faerie who routinely visit Hogsmeade are the embassy staff. Jeanne-Marie never leaves the Farm, she's kept busy with her hospital. You know that Frank and Alice Longbottom are liaisons, and Athena Addington and her firm represent their fiduciary interests as well and all the legal paperwork. You should see what Draco has done with the Hogsheade, cleaned it up, put in a patio and new lighting on the stage on the shore.”

“I had some good times there when I was in school,” Lucius said, with a wide grin.

“Didn't we all!”

 

After Xeno left, Lucius sat down at his table and turned to the first page of the first draft of his son's book. Draco was an excellent writer. Those tutors had done a good job, his penmanship was art in itself, and the “doodles” and sketches he'd made showed artistic skill. He was reading when there was a knock at his door, it was the new “warden” of Azkhaban, an American witch, Miseria Corde, who had been brought in from the Middle American region, based on the shaman traditions. She insisted on the title, “Warden,” which she had held in the only prison stockade for magical offenders on the continent. She was with the head of the new guards, Ahlspeiss, a forensic elf trained in psychomagic. They carried trays with dinner and a flask, as well as stools to sit on. They set the dinner out on his table, after Lucius moved the manuscript to his bed.

 

“I hope you don't mind us barging in, but we'd like to ask a favor of you. Neither of us were here during the conflict, but we'd like to know what really happened, and Mr Lovegood said your son's account is the best he's read so far.”

“And you'd like to know if you could read it.”

They both nodded and smiled at him.

“We aren't taking sides, we were neutral by your Ministry's choice, and bad things are done by those on both sides, as well as good . . . now that it's history it's time to review, reflect, and try to learn from what happened.”

“Of course you may read this. I was asked to proof it and my comments and notes will be written in this dragon's blood ink.”

 

The Warden served dinner and they discussed prison conditions before and after “the Riddle Insurgency”`

“The food is far better.”

“Everyone here, including me, eats from the same menu. And certain treats are given out on a regular basis, 'intermittent positive reinforcement.' Like this,” the Warden said, opening the flask and pouring out three large shots of single roast fire whiskey.

“Your son, Luna, and their baby will be coming to see you next week, you've been granted permission to have any visitors you'd like. Those you don't like won't be let in if you don't want to see them.”

Ahlspeiss cleared away the remains of dinner, leaving the flask as they left the cell.


	16. Bygones Be Gone!

Xeno never liked the ferry to Azkaban, even potions didn't completely alleviate his sea sickness. For security reasons, no apparating or portkeys worked near the island fortress. He'd worried how Aurora would handle the rough seas, but she'd shown no distress at all. They disembarked in the covered landing and were welcomed by the Warden personally.

The group chatted about the latest Ministry activity as it rebuilt itself; bureaucrats can be killed but bureaucracies cannot.

“You were a classmate of Hermione Granger, weren't you, Draco?” the Warden asked. “She mentioned you the other day. Tried to get a look at your manuscript but I wouldn't let her.”

Draco nodded, Luna giggled.

“I've read her articles about reforming the Wizengamot, mostly she is doing what Athena Addington recommends.”

“Reforming? More like reborning . . . everyone is gone, dead, 'retired' or missing in action.” Xeno shook his head. “There is now a movement to make governing within Wizardry to be a true democracy, like those in Iceland before the christ-people took over. More 'transparency' as they say, but when you think about it, our wizarding world is based on lies and deception. I think things will get . . . interesting, which is good for those in my line of work.”

Luna was looking at the glass ceiling of the double helix stairway that could be activated to an escalator as needed. “You removed most of the roof, put in skylights, how lovely!”

“Malfoy's idea. We've even got an observatory. The prisoners who can't be released or don't want to be have to be kept busy.”

Ahlspeiss nodded. “We try and give each prisoner something to keep their minds active and some sort of physical exercise, and socialization as needed. Potions and spells can be used to keep the more recalcitrant prisoners from harming themselves or others.”

 

Lucius had dressed in a new robe, sent to him by Luna, purple wool, very soft and warm. He'd decorated the cell's walls with pictures, and created a bookshelf on one wall, along with a desk and file cabinet to keep track of the manuscript he was proofing for Xeno.

He greeted Luna first, clasping her hands in his. “Thank you.”

She smiled at him. “You learned the lesson, and now, you're doing penance.  You're owning your sins, and I had a promise to keep. Jeanne-Marie said I'm a throwback, I'm not of the Fey, since my mother was not, but the Fey do keep an eye on those of us who share the blood . . . Aurora is the sign that the Curse has been removed.”

“Draco wrote that you dreamed of a soul who wanted you two as parents . . . do you know who it is?” Lucius asked.

Luna nodded. “Cedric Diggory. We grew up together, our mothers were good friends. He visited me during his wake, and asked if I could be his mother when he returned. I promised him I would when he was ready.”

“What? The boy who was murdered at the Tri-Wizard? That destroyed his father . . . your mother got even more crazed about your safety when that happened.”

Draco smiled. “He even told me in a dream he was coming back for me, make me change his nappies and cater to his every whim . ..payback time!”

“Will she remember?”

“No, if she wants to she can find out later.”

Luna removed a padded envelope and handed it to Lucius. “I need your signature on some documents. She hasn't had her naming ceremony yet, her middle name is for you, Lucia. She brings light to the world. As you should have . . .and there is a copy of the release forms. The original parchment was burned and the ashes disposed of at the Convergence.”

Lucius picked up his granddaughter. “Your mother never let me hold you as a baby,” he murmured. “My father never held me. Malfoy men don't do that, I was told.”

Aurora smiled at him.

“Got to roll with the changes,” he said. “So they keep track of ancient curses in Avalon? What an amazing, what are they, race? Species?”

“The current hypothesis is that the Fey are the source of all magic, that long ago, they shared it with us, genetically, apparently there was a lot of interbreeding, before they went into the mists. They were the ones who eliminated the daemons from this hemisphere, they fought alongside the dragons and sealed off the daemonic portals, then we turned on them and the dragons, using the magic we'd learned . . . the Romans, aided and abetted by the christ-followers, tried to exterminate the Fey, who went into the mists and blocked us from their realm, which they say was made by the unicorns, a magical sanctuary. Even the Muggles understand genetics, but they don't know about the metahelix. Then the christ-followers turned on wizardry and we put up our walls to segregate ourselves. This lead to both physical inbreeding with often devastating results, and constricting magic and enlightenment.”

“How's that going over with the elites?”

“Like a lead balloon . . .”

Lucius smiled.

Draco sat next to his father. “Luna told me of the Curse. I can understand why this had to be kept in the family . . . but you should have told Mother. She blamed herself for the miscarriages.”

“No, she blamed everyone else, and adopted the martyred aura to get her way with you and others. I suppose I could have told her. I just didn't want her to give me the 'this is all your fault' treatment, she was so good at that.”

“I should have sent you to Durmstang and her to Torino before things got out of hand. But your mother didn't want you so far away from her. You know, I don't mind it here. I was raised to kill my own brothers, to consider only the best way to profit from misfortune, to exploit the weaknesses of others . . . plus it's really more work than anyone thinks, running an estate. So much responsibility, and I have to accept how I, as head of the house, allowed things to happen. I have things to do with my time, I do miss my magic, but I let it control me.”

“It happens,” Luna said. “You're hardly rare. I mean, look at all of the revelations about Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape that are changing the very memes of history . . .”

“Pravda Vitezhi, (Truth Prevails, motto of the 1st Czecho-Slovak Republic. 'But sometimes it takes a lot of time' Dubcek's Corollary),” Draco said.  
“So tell me about the Hogsheade, I understand you've made a lot of improvements.”

Draco grinned. “It's as old as the Farm, one of the first buildings in the village, was once the home of the shaman, they just kept building over the original site. Now that I've got two Free Elves to help, it's shaping up nicely. We can even put up a temporary roof over the back yard and stage, people love singing, dancing, music, helps us heal.”

Luna reached into her bag. “Here, I've got more at home, it's a Faerie music cube . . . don't worry, it's OK for you to have this. Just touch the top.” She demonstrated how to search for a file of music. “I'll bring you more, what's the word? Download? Upload? More music for you. We're coming every week to work on the manuscript and your input is vital. We need a balanced account of how things got started.”

Draco cleared his throat. “Beltane's just around the corner . . . Luna and I are going to Jump the Broom together. It's not marriage, it's just we get along so well and Aurora Lucia needs us both . . . did you ever think, in your wildest nightmares, I'd end up binding myself to Luna Lovegood?”

“So what does your mother say?”

“I don't know. Still haven't heard from her.”

Xeno chortled. “Not our kind, dear,” he said, mimicking her voice perfectly.

Lucius and Draco looked at each other and laughed loudly.

“My only son, jumping the broom like a peasant . . .” Draco said.

 

Xeno opened his briefcase and brought out some pictures, with a few pages of text. “This is what I'm putting in The Quibbler, about the transformation of Malfoy Manor. The people who took it over are excellent caretakers, there is a family of elves displaced by the Insurgency who are making sure that it remains one of the most beautiful buildings in Wizarding Britian. And that brings up something else . .. it's been the custom on the Ring of Fire, especially Mount Shasta Zone, to not use the word “Muggle,” they refer to themselves as Magical or whatever synonym they prefer. Rather than label those whose magical ability is negligible to nonexistent. We are all the same species.”

Luna nodded. “It's such an ugly word, like 'squib'”

 

“I'm glad the old place is in good hands and doing some good for the world. I am resigned to my fate,” he said, striking a pose. “The last of the Malfoys.”

Aurora laughed. “I didn't know little babies laughed,” Lucius said. “My little Moondragon,”

 

Meanwhile, in the mountain keep overlooking Torino, Narcissa was living large. The advance sales on her memoirs were unprecedented in publishing history. She became a most sought after guest, and her invitations were fought over. When asked about her granddaughter, she changed the subject with a steely glance, that cut like a knife. Those who did inquire found themselves blacklisted from her salon. Most of that set had their own reasons to ignore the recent past and not talk about certain individuals, and had very good reason never to return to Britain. Some subjects were just not talked about.

She did think about her granddaughter a great deal when she was alone. She put the picture Draco had sent her, of Aurora and her parents, in a charmed frame, kept in her boudoir, in front of her mirror, on her altar/dressing table. She'd always wanted a daughter. Or two. She'd been aware of the “Malfoy Males,” that they always had sons. But . . . to mate with that Lovegood girl? So deathly Middle Class, so horrifically politically incorrect, even though Xeno got a lot more respect now.

She chose not to remember how Luna was imprisoned in her own home. Was it ever really her home? Draco had been her claim to the Malfoy power and money, that's why she had to protect him. And look at what happened, as soon as he was on his own. Got a job in the most infamous dive in Hogsmeade, even though he did make a lot of improvements.

Luna had her revenge, Narcissa thought, with a pang. She looked at the picture of Luna, Draco, and Aurora. “You stole my son and granddaughter.” she whispered.

She leafed through a travel magazine, with an article entitled “Hogsmeade Rises from the Ashes” that had some pictures of the Hogshead, and it did look, well, funky, low rent, but . . . nice. Welcoming. Even the goats were beautiful, cashmere goats from Avalon, they said. The author had stayed there and gave the place and its food five chalices.

She sighed. Her son, an innkeeper. Well, she couldn't really blame him; Malfoy Manor was never a welcoming home to her. Her own room was where she had miscarried three, no, four, pregnancies.  She was terrified she'd never have a child, and she'd be put aside. She'd been carrying Draco when she had her breakdown and she had her only child there, in the healing center in the Alps. Too many bad memories in the Manor. Riddle's takeover destroyed whatever feelings she had for the place, She never should have allowed Bellatrix to drag her down with that snake faced pervert.

She looked back at the picture.

Aurora looked so much like Draco when he was born, she noted. She already had the chiseled, aristocratic look of a Malfoy. And there was another thing. Her son looked happy. How dare he be happy, she thought savagely. While his own father was in prison and she was in exile.

 

Narcissa turned the page, into a story about Quidditch finals in the Ring of Fire, written by Vivienne Turner. She'd been one of Eli le Fey's pals, who had to leave Britain when one of her articles for the Prophet didn't get pulled in time. She'd been on the trail of some of Riddle's agents in the Ministry, They'd tried to catch up with her in Japan but their 'agents' got caught, which turned out to be quite embarrassing for a certain Minister who suddenly resigned “for health reasons” and disappeared.

What a mess. The Wizengamot was inoperable, the Aurors were all either dead or missing in action, unknown if they were in hiding or chasing down past enemies, some people can't give up the fight, even when it's lost. She had the instincts of a survivor, switching alliances as easily as she changed her clothes.

She remembered one year, vacationing in North America, to the source of fresh water, called Lake Superior. The Aurora Borealis was to be intense that night, so they were staying in a small cabin on the shore. There was something called a smelt run. These small fishes would beach themselves to spawn, the shores were coated with layers of them, wriggling in what Lucius called the greatest example of group sex ever. People harvested them by the bucket, wild creatures too, helping themselves to a banquet.

Lucius even went out and got some himself, and cooked them over an open fire on their secluded beach. They were delicious.

“How do they survive as a species?” she'd asked.

“They breed so prolifically, there are just so many of them that the predators simply can't eat enough to make a dent in their population,” he'd explained.

There were just so many of Riddle's supporters, the demoralized and depopulated Ministry just couldn't put them all on trial, and let most of them go. Like her.

 

Her body missed Lucius. He'd been the best lay ever. Creative, inventive, inquisitive, with no limits to his libido. She smiled as she thought of him in prison. She was still angry about their parting. He removed her ring, and handed it to her.

“I am free of you, prison is a much better fate,” he'd said, as the guards escorted him to the ship taking him and some other prisoners to Azkaban. In front of everyone. A bailiff handed her a document, a decree of divorce.

She took the ring, added her own engagement ring, wedding ring, and diamond bracelet, had a goblin forge the gold into a miniature dagger, the hilt and scabbard covered with diamonds, the ruby of her engagement ring on top. The blade was one inch long, shaped like a serpent's fang, and loaded with the most divine poison, made of her own blood, so she was immune to its effects. Perfect for stabbing into the carotid of anyone near enough to feel her wrath up close.

She changed her name, using the French version of her maiden name, Noire.

She loved the way it sounded, Narcissa Noire` she loved her new sigil. Her publishers were in negotiations for a tour of the Continents, Europe and Asia, on the Mystery Train, promoting her book, posing for pictures, that sort of thing. Of course, they would provide all the expenses, including new clothing. Which she could design and market, of course. Including lingerie. Obviously.

She had found her true talent. Marketing sex.

 

Alan and Eli kept track of events in Terra, Alan because he was teaching at the Druid College, as Eli continued her collecting reports and statements from the victims on both sides of the Insurgency. It amused Alan to communicate via his official portrait at Hogwarts, and occasionally looking in at Draco's work in the library room. Harry stopped by when he could, bringing documents, memory vials, and other evidence with him.

Alice's eidetic memory proved to be invaluable in learning the facts about how Riddle and his agents infiltrated the Ministry. She'd mastered the technique of calling down shadows, and had gathered a lot of information that many thought had been safely destroyed when the Ministry was attacked.

No one had suspected that Frank was spying on his own department. He just didn't seem the type. He was the one who cheerfully handled all the things no one else wanted to bother with, like keeping the files in order. As well as making copies for his own files. Which he'd hidden very well, and now provided evidence against those whose loyalties were flexible to the point of treason.

 

Draco had access to all of the evidence floating to the surface like a bloated corpse. The taint of Riddle and the Purebred Supremacists touched almost everyone in the Wizarding community. No family, no clan, no Hogwarts House was free of the Purebred Supremacists and collaborators, not to mention those whose loyalty was dependent on convenience.

 

One fine day, Luna, Draco and Aurora were shopping in Diagon Alley, after stopping by Gringott's to make a deposit. Advance sales of the first volume of Draco's books were excellent, and they decided to blow some money on new clothes for their entire family, including Lucius. Even with all the improvements, Azkaban was always damp and chilly, and Luna worried about his health.

Aurora was snuggled in a sling borne by Draco. This was in part due to the fact that no self-righteous prat would attack him on the street with his daughter strapped to his chest.

They stopped for a minute, to look through the windows at the Weasley Emporium, re-opened when Ron dumped the Ministry and joined his brother. They were doing quite well, according to the financial section of the Daily Prophet. “Why not use magic for fun, to entertain?” Ron was quoted as saying. And why not? Magic had been misused for power, for glory, and that never ends well.

Ron was at the cash register, and saw them through the window. He dashed out the door, and hugged Luna, and awkwardly offered his hand to Draco, who was carrying bags in both hands, which was grabbed by Aurora with a chortle.

“She knows you don't really want to shake MY hand.”

Luna laughed. “You look great, Ron. Much better than the last time I saw you.”

“Say, I was about to take a break, how about we go sit in the office? You hungry? I send out for food.” He led them to a stairway leading to a mezzanine overlooking the floor.

Luna was impressed by the cleanliness and décor. “When did you learn to pick up after yourself?”

“Got some great free elves taking care of the place, they've even got their own line of magical supplies for Elven magic.” He waved them to a couch across from a large desk, and sat next to Draco. “Who knew the Elves had their own realm, that they had their own world, their own society, their own magic.”

“Oh, some knew, most preferred ignorance,” Draco said with a smirk.

“I heard about what you've been through,” Ron said. “I guess I just can't imagine what it was like for you. I always felt so despised because my family was poor, but there was love, I didn't have to fulfill any great destiny, no legacy to uphold. Your family had money, had power, but no real love . . . your mother, great Hera, what a . . .”

Draco grinned, “You don't have to say it, I agree. She is my mother, and you only get one.”

Ron laughed. “I think my mother always hated yours because she's still so freakin' GORGEOUS, I saw the coverage of her press conference.”

He looked into Aurora's eyes, like mirrors, “So this is the Moondragon,” Ron said.

Draco grinned. “Don't stare into her eyes or you will see yourself reflected As she sees you. Not always flattering.”

“Her eyes don't look quite human, but not Faerie, either,” Ron whispered, remembering Jeanne-Marie's eyes, that pure purple, and Eli's eyes, purple with green sparks when she looked at him. Hermione had told him that green eyeflashes meant that you'd annoyed, offended, or vexed a Faerie.

Luna nodded. “Jeanne-Marie explained it to me, it's complicated . . . I'm a throwback, but my maternal line is not of the Fey, you know it's kind of like the difference between a mule and a hinny,”

She reached to the coffee table and picked up the deluxe version, fully illustrated, of the first volume of Narcissa Noire's Memoir. “This is like the Kama Sutra of sex magic.”

Ron flushed, and laughed uncomfortably. “Can I hold her?”

Draco removed the sling and Aurora crawled to Ron's arms. “She's beginning to walk to you have to keep an eye on her,” Luna said. “Even does a bit of wandless magic, she's a prodigy.”

“So I've heard,” Ron said, smiling down at the girlchild in his arms. “It's like she knows who I am.”

“She does.” Luna stated.

Before Ron could think of a response to that, JaeKae`, one of the Elven staff, apparated.

“I've ordered refreshments, they should be here soon.” She was dressed in an indigo robe, with a necklace of carved amulets. She handed Aurora a plush dragon toy, which delighted the child.

“A toy dragon for the Moondragon child,” the elf said reverently. She bowed to the girl and apparated.

“The chief of staff around here,” Ron said. “She takes care of all the details. Also works as an event planner. Hermione adores her.”

 

Ron levitated the toy and had it circle Aurora's head. She laughed in delight, and motioned with her hands.

Ron was a bit surprised. “She's doing wandless magic on that!”

Draco and Luna looked at each other.

“You have to be careful around her, she picks up on things right away,” Draco said with pride. “it's almost her naptime, we'd best get back to the pub.”

Luna opened her purse and took out a small device. “It's a Faerie portkey, programmable.”

“You use a portkey with a baby?” Ron said.

“Oh, she loves to travel – she figured out what portkeys are and we have to make sure she can't get to one on her own. And Faerie portkeys work on a different sort of magic.”

“Aren't they illegal here?”

Draco laughed raucously. “Since when did you ever follow the rules?”

Ron looked nonplussed, then grinned. “Touche'”

“Besides, the Ministry isn't enforcing any of the laws against the Fey, probably drop most of them . … but the Fey are not all that interested in expanding their interests in this realm.” Luna said, as she picked up her daughter. Draco took all of their shopping bags, put one arm around Luna, who activated the portkey.

“Be seeing you,” he said to Ron as they disappeared.


	17. Chapter 17

Abe had taken in displaced elves, who wanted to learn the hospitality industry. They wanted to give him a present, and said they would rebuild the entire pub, restore anything that needed restoring, and would need to shut down for two weeks at the beginning of April. 

Abe made arrangements with Gwydion Morgan to stay at the Inn. 

“This will be a chance to see the cherry blossoms with my nephew,” he told Draco. “It's time you got to meet him, and you can ask about Eli and Severus, they spent time there. We can contact Rhiannon Simmonds, she can fill you in with more on Regulus Black. It will be a real family vacation, Frank and Alice are bringing Severia,”

“Luna should love it.”

Luna was quite enthusiastic about seeing the cherry blossoms. 

“Aurora and Severia can entertain each other, our daughter adores Severia. Follows her around like a puppy.” 

 

While Luna and Alice were selecting and putting on kimono, helped by Karinui, Frank and Draco were sitting with their daughters near the mountain shrine. The girls were trying to catch the blossoms, that were just beginning to fall. 

 

“You know Neville always had a crush on Luna,” Frank said. 

Draco nodded. 

“so did I. My mother didn't approve of her parents.”

“Not to mention he always had an inferiority complex, to use a Muggle phrase. Never thought he was good enough. Even though in the end he was the real hero, took the sword and killed Nagini. Did you know Eli was his goddessmother?” 

“Was she looking out for him? The way Severus was looking out for Harry?”

“Yes, but not at the end . . . she went to Severus, of course.”

“I saw her on the barge, when they went into the mists. I never got a chance to meet her. I remember the first time I saw her, in the forest, talking to angry dragons, with her beautiful sister. I watched her fly away on the Red Dragon, tracked her with the telescope in the tower.”

He grinned. “I was so jealous of Neville, how she fawned over him.” 

“What do you think of my son now?”

“He's the sort of man I admire most.” 

 

That evening, Draco mentioned the conversation with Frank to Luna. 

“Yes, I knew he had a crush on me, I always liked him, you know, but then the shit hit the fan and we never did get together.”

“Would you like to?

She smiled. “Why, whatever do you mean?”

He laughed. “I'm not averse to polyamory, you know.” 

“I'll keep that in mind this Beltane.”

Draco threw himself on the futon. “Just remember that either of us has veto power.”

“So what do you think of Neville?”

Draco grinned. “You know, once he lost that baby fat, he turned into quite a dish . . .”

“And he still doesn't believe it!” 

“You think maybe the two of us can change his mind?”

“It's worth a try.”

Luna grinned. “So the rumors about you were true!”

“Oh, I never denied going to the back room at the Two Wizards.”

“Don't brag, I was there myself.”

“Frank invited me to ride a dragon to the Tigers training center. Do you want to come along?”

“No, Alice and I are picking out kimono. Remember those dancers who came for Beltane the year we made Aurora? They were fighting over Neville, what do you think about one, or two, of them?”

Draco grinned. “Yes, he did seem very happy with how things worked out . . .” 

“Abe told me to pick out what I want from the kimono maker on the mountain. Admiral Morgan, you know, Gwydion's wife, is teaching me how to use a fan, they have the most wonderful charmed fans, wait until you see . . .” 

“And Gwydion gave us matching kaiken, He wants me to ride, you know, and Father didn't like horses so I never learned. These horses are so feral looking! Like little versions of Faerie horses. The dragons here are less frightening.” 

 

The next morning, Abe and Gwydion took Aurora and Severia for a horseback ride to see the waterfalls. The two girls rode on one horse, already able to sit upright and balance. They sat underneath the cherry trees, watching a dance performance honoring the season. 

Alice and Luna went to select kimono. One formal, one more festive. Luna selected a formal robe with a border of the moon shining and stars twinkling. The obi was gold and silver brocade, of moonflowers and jasmine blossoms. She picked out a robe with an exquisite design of red lotus in water, with an obi of paired koi. 

Alice found a robe of the same blue as her eyes, with peacocks. The kimono maker insisted she have it. She selected an obi with scrolls and bellflowers. Her formal robe had a border of mountains, with a purple obi brocade of wisteria. 

As they walked back to the Inn, Luna told Alice about how she felt about Frank, and that she knew of his schoolboy infatuation with her. 

“You know Draco and I are not married, we have no vows of chastity or anything like that. I always liked him.”

Alice looked at her out of the corner of her eye. “I know, he shared his memories with us during our recovery. And I know that you dreamed of your child and who the father should be, I spend a lot of time in Avalon, you know.” 

“I just don't want him to get the wrong idea, both of us do admire Neville. We are together because our daughter needs both of us. We will stay together until she doesn't need us, as long as Neville realizes that.” 

“So you're inviting him to share on Beltane?” Alice laughed. “Probably be good for him.” 

“Yes, he doesn't get out much; he lives at Augusta's home, she's taken in some of the students whose homes were destroyed or appropriated when Riddle died. I don't think that's fair, and we're working on the law to give at least some of the property back to the heirs, who didn't choose to be death eaters.”

“Draco doesn't want anything back.”

“I know. I think the memories he has of Malfoy Manor would keep him away forever. Abe told me that Draco refused all suitors . . . the thought of sex made him physically ill, after all of the horrors he'd witnessed of his aunt's sex magick . . .you healed him of that.” 

“We healed each other. After they worked me over, he came to me, picked me up and took me back to my cell in the dungeons . . . even the dungeons at Malfoy Manor are quite lovely . . . and he cried. He never said anything, but I know it was him who smuggled me healing potions and pain killers. I realized he was just as much a prisoner as I was. He thought he chose that path, his mother made sure he never had a choice. I almost feel sorry for Lucius, I like him now.”

“See how the mighty have fallen . . . yes, he has accepted his fate. I remember when I first met him, what a prat! Upper class twit, wasn't very good at anything at school, I'm told. He was an 8th year when I was in 1st, you know. Acted like he outranked the headmaster. Oh, you should have seen him, perfect hair, robes custom made, strutting down the halls. Luscious Lucius, The Boy Veelah, the Blond Wonder . . . the poor dear suffered from Delusions of Adequacy in many respects, but he sure was pretty.”

Luna smiled. “He's not so pretty anymore, but I'd say he's got a lot more character.”

 

Draco and Frank left before dawn and went to the docks as the sun rose. Frank called the dragons, demonstrating how to put on the gear. Draco was more than a little nervous, but the dragon got him over it quickly. It was a lot more fun that a broomstick, he thought as they swept up the side of the mountains, above the cherry trees along the central river, flowing down in series of waterfalls. 

 

The dragons took them to the White Tiger center, and flew back to the harbor. It was below the snow line of the always ice covered top, an extinct volcano, said to be the home of an Ice Dragon, who watched over the mountain. It was cooler here and Draco noticed that the cherry blossoms here were still buds. 

“I suppose training at the higher altitude is good for gaining strength,” he said to Frank. Both were a little out of breath. 

The Commander came out to greet them, inviting him to the main office. She had a messenger bag for Draco. “It's got Eli le Fey's record, the battle videos, pictures, if you need anything more just let us know. Those who trained and fought with her will share their memories of her and Severus Snape, the Dragon Prince, of the Morgan clan. He trained with the Black Turtles when she was in Tibet.” 

The other Byakko gave Draco their names, stories, pictures and even some vids of Eli and Severus. Frank and Draco stayed for lunch, then packed up their research material and walked down the path near the main river down the side of the mountain. The terraced gardens and rice paddies were beginning to turn green, that magical shade of golden green that doesn't last long. 

They stopped to rest at a stone bench near a torii gate, colored purple, in front of a cave entrance.

“That's the gateway to Faerie,” Frank explained. 

After drinking some sake, and leaving a cup at the altar, they walked down to the mountain shrine, where a stage had been put up in front of the plunge pool (said to be bottomless, according to the dragons, with an underwater gateway to Faerie for the water beings) and fringed by cherry trees. Musicians were playing, the candy artists made magical creatures of rice sugar { https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candy_Miyuki } which entranced Severia and Aurora. 

As the sun went down, the dances began, which Draco liked a lot more than he thought he would. The dances were all adagio, the movements almost inhuman in their grace. They left when the girls were getting sleepy, returning to their rooms at the inn to put them to sleep. 

“Let's go to the hot springs,” Luna said. 

“I thought the volcano was extinct?” Draco said. 

“Not quite . . . it's up to the fire dragons, I suppose. They live in the caldera.” 

 

They put on cotton robes and went to the outdoor rock pool across the garden , and got in. Alice and Frank politely made no mention of the scars both of them bore. Alice noticed that the mark on Draco's arm was fading. All of Riddle's spells were unraveling, the half life of evil is always shorter than its adherents think. 

 

Abe spend the fortnight relaxing as much as possible with his nephew. He appreciated the way Gwydion ran the inn, and was enthralled with the beauty of the place. He observed how the kitchen staff prepared the local seafood and produce, and developed a taste for the different sorts of sake and fermented fruit drinks made on the farms, with their terraced plots like an exquisite tapestry on the flanks of the mountain. 

The two men knew each other well. Abe had been Gwydion's sounding board when he was exasperated with his father. Abe told him about the family legacy, of the true story of his aunt's death, and Gellert's betrayal. 

“He's my brother, my only living relative, but I can't abide what he's done, to so many people. All for the 'Greater Good,' which is what served him best, so self centered, so santimonious.”

“Eli was right, he was a user, sacrificing children to make up for his mistakes. How could he not know what Tom Riddle was?”

“Old Slughorn knew. I knew . . . banned him from the place when he was selling illegal potions and spells on my premises. Made a full report to the school, they did nothing, Albus preferred to cover things up,” Abe snorted. “I may have had a rough crowd there but I do have standards. Animals hated him, dogs growled when he was around, just had a bad aura, and those eyes, like the eyes of the onryo, dead, soulless eyes . . .”

“Animals can always detect and resist that sort of evil, I guess would be the best word. That's why I like living with the horses and dragons, with the tigers on the mountain,” Gwydion smiled, gazing out over the lamps, of bio luminescence, floating near the cherry blossom trees across the lane. He could hear the music from the tea house that overlooked the banks of the river. 

 

The group of elves working on the Hogshead were proud of their work. They literally cleaned to the bones, to the heavy oak beams, so ancient they seemed to be fossilized. The original floors were resurfaced and polished, the booths, tables, and chairs repaired and replaced. 

They were doing this primarily because elves can't abide disorder and dirt where they work. One of the societal changes after the Riddle Insurgency was more rights for house elves, many had be freed when their masters were killed, exiled, or imprisoned. They demanded to be treated as any other employee, and many began to work outside the homes. 

Abe and Gwydion returned to the pub to assist in restocking supplies and getting ready for the re-opening party. 

“It looks as it must have when it first opened!” Abe said. The elves had made improvements to the attic that Draco shared with Luna and Aurora, with a modern, luxurious bathroom and a room just for the little girl. The small guest rooms had been improved with light pipes and new furniture. They'd managed to improve the plumbing without any change in decor, and the kitchen expanded and upgraded. 

Elves were picky about kitchens, even more so with plumbing. 

Luna assumed responsibility for booking entertainment for weekends and festivals. Occasionally bards from Avalon would perform, as well as groups from Hogwarts music program, and graduates who'd become entertainers. 

“It's still a dive, but it's got great food and music,” said an article about how Hogsmeade and Hogswart were rebuilding. 

Abe was pleased with how the elves had improved the place. He was getting old and wanted nothing more than time to himself, turning over the accounts to Draco, and let the elves take care of the place. He tended bar, hung out with his cronies, and talked about what they'd been through to anyone who was listening.


	18. It Happened One Samhain

The Crone herself set up the meeting at the very beginning of the Samhain festival. Both Eli and Alan were annoyed, but compliant. 

“He finally figured some things out,” she told them as they arrived at Hecate's Temple. “The Goddess Herself told me, he's almost ready to move on, and as you know the first step is to contact everyone you offended and harmed.”

Eli and Alan looked at each other. Cordelia and Emerald had been invited as well as Lily, Frank, and Alice. Remus, Tonks, and Sirius came with James, and there was a mirror set up for Regulus and Rhiannon, who were visiting Kreacher. 

They met in the Crone's office, in the reception area near the Veil Gates, where the dead took form. 

 

“I'll get right to it,” James said. “It was my fault. Lily wanted to ask you for help,” he said to Cordelia, who had brought Gellert with her. “I knew the rules, we had to ask you for help, and I didn't let her. I was too proud, didn't think I needed you. I didn't know you were working for Frank, Alan. I wanted to believe the worst of you, and expected the best from someone I thought was a friend.”

“I tried to warn you about Pettigrew,” Alan said. “I told Frank and Alice, of course, but you wouldn't talk to them, because they were my friends.” 

“I got your letter,” James said. “Tore it into pieces.” 

“And you never told me,” Lily said. 

“Yes. Eli, part of the reason I didn't want Lily to call your family for help was I was jealous of your magic. I hated that you shared it with someone I disliked so much. And when Lily told me about what happened in London that time, yes, she told me!”

Lily blushed. 

Sirius laughed. “Like that matters … you know I always thought you'd be fun but realized right away that wasn't happening, but it's why I made friends with you in the first place. Then I realized your little pal Remus was much hotter.”

James looked at Remus. “You know that the main reason I made you my pal was because you and Lily made friends right away?”

“Yes, Remus, remember that first night in the dorm? I couldn't sleep a wink so I went back to the common room, and you were sitting alone, looking so forlorn . . . everything was so strange and you answered all my questions. You didn't treat me like I was something to be pitied, like the rest of them.”

 

James drained a chalice of aqua vitae. 

“I was so arrogant. I really thought I could take Riddle. Didn't think I needed anyone. And we trusted the wrong person. I died knowing he'd betrayed us. That you'd been right, Alan.” 

Eli smiled. “You might have had a chance if you'd kept your wand with you. I was in Tibet when it happened, Cordelia was standing by, waiting for your call, we knew something was happening and you were in danger.”

“I wasn't there,” Sirius said. You and Lily were on your own, and she almost beat him . . .”

Remus nodded. “If I'd been there . . .Riddle struck when we were apart. Remember how you said we had to make our own family, because our own didn't want us?”

“We didn't stand together.”

Eli rolled her eyes. “And you didn't have the sense to keep your wands about you, even under siege.”  
“Rub it in, soldier girl.” James and Lily nodded ruefully. 

 

“Let's go listen to some music, maybe dance? Tomorrow at sunset we can go to Hogsmeade, we can go through the gateway to the Farm and then to the Hogshead.” Tonks grabbed Remus and Sirius and pulled them to their feet.

 

 

“I'm going to switch into the genotype I had before I returned,” Lily said. “It's a lot more complicated than just switching genders, that's just a tiny bit of your own genotype, Want to see how it works?”

Tonks nodded. “Is this similar to how I can shape-shift?”

“Sort of, but not completely. But we never got a chance to study how you worked it, Tonks. It's closer to how polyjuice potion operates. I take a copy of the genome from the facet of the oversoul, since I'm a returnee it's fairly simple.”

“D'you think you could have some Druids look into how I functioned? I'm curious.” 

“Sure, stop by the hospital center before you go to Terra, Jeanne-Marie is going to be in Avalon for the entire Sabbat. She's always looking for more Terran genetic anomalies.” 

Remus spoke up. “I'd like to borrow a horse to ride, horses always disliked me because of my affliction.”

“You can borrow Yojimbo,” Eli smiled. “I'll tell him to take you to the Horse Park to find other horses, if you're interested in exploring. Bring some food, of course. Use saddles from the tack room near the horse house.”

 

They explored the island, went back to the central plaza for more food and music, eventually crashing out in the guestrooms. They slept in, went to watch the equestrian games at the training center, until sunset, when Lily led them through the mists to the gateway on the Farm. Neville greeted them, took them to the Main Hall where Frank and Alice were hosting the sabbot. 

"I won't keep you, Harry's waiting for us at the Hogshead." He led them to a coach, and Nils drove them to the pub.

 

Draco welcomed the group and led them to the “staff lounge” as they called it, a large office with tables and chairs, with a window overlooking the back lot. Harry was chatting with Luna about Aurora, who was sitting in her mother's lap looking at him with her mirrored eyes. Two of the resident cats sat on either side of them, with the same focused looks on their faces. Harry was a bit intimidated. He'd never been all that good communicating with felines. 

 

“Time for a story and bedtime,” Draco said, picking her up. The little girl smiled at the guests, looking each of them in the eye. 

“Help yourselves to whatever you'd like to drink and we'll get some munchies sent in,” Luna said as she shut the door.

Tonks and Sirius went to the shelf that had bottles on it, selecting aqua vitae and a large jug of Avalon honey mead. 

Harry said, “Ginny is waiting for us with Percy at the Shack. My lovely mother-in-law pitched a fit, she doesn't approve of 'Faerie Darkness' and the sort of people who go to this 'pit of depravity' so they promised not to meet us here. She said she was going to the Hogwart's dance. We may stop by, it's an 'all nighter' to keep the students away from all the 'old believers' . . . oh, how that woman can go on. , we're going to go animagae and run around, fly around, maybe get a pickup game going. The new stadium is amazing, I'm told.” 

He'd learned with the help of Hermione's research, according to the Fey, reincarnation was entirely voluntary, except for educational purposes. Not inevitable, as death was. He accepted that Lily le Fey was who she said she was, and realized she had been watching over him from the astral plane, guiding his dreams into subconscious suggestions. He knew Lily and her brother were “returnees” who remembered their past life, because their mission in life was not completed. 

But it was still too much for him on so many levels, he tried not to think about it. Until this year, when Ginny and Hermione ganged up on him and Ron about observing the Old Rite at The Shack. 

“Not that I believe in that stuff,” Ginny had said. “But it's an excellent way to pay tribute to those we've lost.”

“Would you be willing to at least suspend disbelief for one night?” Harry replied. “I mean you can't actually disprove any of this. We don't want to be spiritual voyeurs.” 

“It's Percy's idea,” Ginny said. “And don't tell Mother. Father is covering for us.”

Percy had researched the Old Belief, and shared his findings with anyone interested. The methods to invoke a visitation from someone across the veil attracted attention, and many practitioners came forward to lead rituals to the dead. 

The Shack was one of the most popular sites to perform rituals, from simple candle magic to more elaborate tributes to the deceased. 

 

 

“So tell me about your life,” Harry said to Lily. “What was Severus like as a father? No one knew he had children.”

“He never spoke of us on this side of the mists,” she replied. “Of course with me it was different. I begged to come back as his daughter,”

“I should have believed him and not Pettigrew,” James muttered. “He tried to warn me. So did Frank and Alice. I thought I knew better.”

Harry put his arm around his father's shoulders. “Me too,” he laughed. 

Lily shook her head. “Pettigrew was my fault. Sirius was going to draw fire, Remus was supposed to meet him but got attacked, they were all one step ahead of us. I never saw the letter and James never told me about Frank and Alice's warning.”

“My father taught me what love is, shared his feelings, his knowledge, with me. He always cared so very much for you, Harry, and couldn't let you know it, that hurt him deeply, how much you hated him.”

“I didn't know . . .”

“And now you do. You asked what I'm doing, I'm working with the High Priestess, I'm her novitiate, I guess you'd call it. Intern? Something like that. We represent the Crown Chakra, I guess would be one way of putting it. I''ll send you some books on the topic. We're not here to talk about what I'm up to, James wants to talk to you, meet your friends.”

 

Lily laughed. 

“I have to be honest, I never much cared for your mother-in-law when we were in school, she was a few years ahead of me, and all she talked about was how important it was to find a mate, get married and have lots of children for the good of magic, even us 'muggle-borns' she'd always add if I was in earshot.”

Harry snorted with suppressed laughter. “Hermione once mentioned how Mother Weaseley treated her like some kind of pet, with the faint odor of patronage. 'Oh, yes, they're very nice, some of my best friends . . . but would you want your daughter to marry one?'”

“It's not that I didn't want kids, but not a litter! If I was going to have children, it would be two only, I wanted to do it young, raise them and still have time to go out and do my own thing. and . . . I might as well tell you, I dreamed of you, and you asked me to be your mother, and James to be your father. I had another dream . . . I was pregnant with your sister when I died. That soul may ask your lady and you to be born and I do hope you are able to receive the message. Unless you have enough Faerie blood you can't because you won't be able to remember the dream when you wake up. So your subconscious will trigger you. That may be why you chose a mate who looks just like me, that soul has a mission in this realm.”

“Recombinant DNA,” James added. “It's complicated, I don't really understand it all. Tougher than arithromancy!”

“I was going to ask Severus to be godfather.” 

“You never mentioned that to me when you told me you were pregnant,” James said. 

“I didn't want or need your permission, dear,”

James laughed. She was right, as usual. 

 

Hermione was waiting for the group in the Shack. She'd never gotten over the guilt she felt about Severus Snape, how badly she had misjudged him. She brought a candle, incense, and a small silver bell. She'd loved the High Church Episcopalian cathedral her grandmother would take them at Christmas and Easter. 

She understood syncretism. 

 

Back in Avalon, Eli and Alan had been watching Rory play with Takeshi and other bards. Rory took a break, joining Jeanne-Marie, Eli and Alan next to the stage. They drank the Samhain mixed drinks, imbibable alchemy. 

 

“Let's go watch what's going on in The Shack, Eli. If they're going to put up a temple in my honor the least I can do is watch their ceremonies!” 

“Shall we send some 'relics'?”

“Through the mirror? Why, yes, I have a speech prepared using the icon, all sorts of special magic, let's give them a show.”

 

Rory watched them leave. “They're happy, aren't they?” he said to Jeanne-Marie. 

She laughed. “We do things a bit differently here, that sort of exclusive pair-bonding is seen as dysfunctional. It does happen, pairs who never have anyone else, but it's rare. There are some of us who die virgins, some who are what you'd call sluts. Most of us are in the middle ground.” 

Rory sighed. 

Jeanne-Marie grinned, and picked up his hand. “I saw you first. And I'm the older sister.” 

He understood her meaning. 

“But we have a rule, you have to ask a Faerie.”

He flushed, then kissed her hand. 

Sometimes you can ask without saying a word.


End file.
